Durability
by Ray The Red
Summary: He bore them with pride, each telling a distinct story. They were marks of his survival, medals of the flesh. Yet they were also the reminders of his mistakes and failures. Most of all, though, they reminded him of his humanity.
1. The First of Many

The First of Many

_"Because nobody goes through life without a scar."_

_\- Caroll Burnett_

**November 06, 2022**

I spoke the words that only a 1,000 had spoken before, and that 9,999 others were uttering alongside me at this very moment; "Link Start!"

The ceiling of my room, along with the lamp that hung from it disappeared from my view as it was taken over by white. Then the checks came, as the guide had explained. The Nerve Gear in that sense was like a suit tailor; it made you a virtual suit that fits your unique senses the best. After all, every human receives the intel of the world a little different, and so it would be for this digital world.

Once that was done I logged in and the game truly opened. As the title disappeared, I found myself standing within a blue room, in front of a mirror.

Reflected back at me was a slightly tanned, narrow and square face. It had a long nose and grey eyes. On the side of it were ears, which were neither huge nor noticeably small, and easily visible as the brown hair was quite short and spikey. The body that supported it wasn't too muscular, some muscles from swimming but that was it. Height-wise it didn't have too much to offer either, standing at 1.73 meters. All in all, the reflection of Blake Walker, a 17-year-old High School student, was quite average.

In this world though, I wouldn't be known by the name Blake Walker and therefore I would not wear his face. The options that hung suspended in the air next to the mirror, and the name slot that hung above it, granted me the opportunity of a new identity.

The options were vast, so I immediately got to work. The eyes stayed the same, I always liked them and so had the girls I've dated. The face, however, became broader and thus manlier. The nose became slightly shorter, and I decided to add a three o' clock shadow as well. My skin color kept that slight tan, since my relatives in the USA were quite jealous of it.

For the height the change wasn't too big either, just a few centimeters making my avatar stand at a nice 1.80 meters. Muscles weren't expanded exponentially, but instead of slightly visible they became prominent. I was now the proud owner of a six-pack.

The hair is probably what I spent the longest on, exhausting all the options twice. Eventually I decide on a ponytail of red hair that reached my shoulder blades.

They even had an option for voice, and I made mine more gravelly. When you go for a tougher image, you got to speak tougher.

As for clothes the only choice you had was the color of the shirt and the gloves, I made both red to match the hair. That was that, and when I looked into the mirror once more, it is not Blake Walker who looked back, but another person entirely.

Somebody who looks like they came out of an anime, and not just anybody from that anime either but the protagonist.

Yet, I felt like the avatar wasn't complete. Something vital was missing, and after a second I knew exactly what.

This was an RPG with no magic, all players use weapons. Weapons leave damage, scars. Therefore the protagonist in a world of weapon masters needs to have one.

Besides, if they had all these options regarding shoe and nose sizes, they sure as hell had to have an option for the marring of the skin, like a tattoo or a scar. I searched for quite a while, but I couldn't seem to find it. Just as was about to give up I remembered that maybe it wasn't a character building option as much as a mode of playing. I went to settings and sure enough, there I found it; under the tab _Damage Absorption_ stood the option _Durability Mode_.

"Damage whilst healed, is not nullified" is the description it gave, and exactly what I was looking for. I clicked it, and saw the check appear in the empty box.

Happy to have sorted that out I looked back to the mirror, and at my avatar. He was now complete, the only thing he lacked being a name.

I thought of many names, each more complicated than the next; some were Japanese, references to long dead warrior that I'd memorized for history tests or clever combinations of Kanji; others were in English, most of these being mythical in nature, but I discarded them all.

The one that survived the guillotine was basic and simplistic, but in that simplicity lay its power. In this world I would be known as Ray. As I clicked on _okay_ the monicker "Ray the Red" flickered through my mind and I smirked. I could definitely get used to that.

The light cleared, and the chime-like sound that had accompanied me disappeared as well. I stood in a grand round plaza of cobblestones, at the center of which stood a clock tower, whilst small stands with ware could be found at the edge of the giant plaza. It was already filled with people, each as extravagant and exotic as me, and there was an almost constant chime of new people teleporting in.

This is where everyone starts, the tutorial town which goes by the name _Starting City._ I was simply stunned by the beauty and realism of it all; from the hustle bustle of the people, the feeling of the cobblestone's beneath my feet, to the fresh air and the smell of food it seemed to be carrying. _Starting City_, had this rustic feel to it and I was loving it.

I explored the place and soon enough I was going from NPC to NPC, who were easy enough to make out amongst the mob of players who all wore the same kind of garb. The yellow cursors that hung above their heads made the distinguishing even easier.

Each NPC gave you some kind of tip on what to do or where to go. Eventually I ended up in a weapon shop, and it is here that I made one of the most vital decisions of my life. The choices here were of course quite basic, it was after all the starting point. In the end I went for a one-handed sword, and when I placed it on my hip I truly felt like a knight.

After some more exploring I found myself on the plains, a large expanse of grass with flowers popping up every so often with the sky in the background. Amongst the sea of green you could see the occasional dabble of purple. These dabs being the grazing _Frenzy Boar, _ big brutish things. They're territorial critters, easy to piss off and move surprisingly fast for their big size.

My first fight was me mostly dodging, and scratching it's HP down slowly. I think it took half an hour for that thing to break into the polygons it was made of. I was covered in sweat by the end of it, but damn if I didn't feel accomplished.

The next one was a bit tougher, and it gave me my first experience in what being hit in a virtual world is like; namely not that different from real life. Except that you don't really lose your breath here, not needing to breath and all.

After having killed two more in that fashion, my health bar had dwindled down to a dangerous 30% and the marginal EXP I'd gained in return was in no way compensation. I took a well-deserved break, during which I used one of the two Weak Health potions I'd had in my beginners inventory.

It didn't taste good, but I hadn't expected it to. Potions here worked a little different too, instead of returning the health immediately they only increased the speed at which your health recovered. So I slowly saw the bar go from red back to green.

I was quite miffed, because all the Boars had a pure red marker hanging above them, indicating that they were the same level as me. That meant they were level 1, and yet it had taken me this long to take them down.

It was during my grumbling that I saw another person kill a Boar with a glowing strike. It made me realize that I'd up till now I'd been doing it all wrong. I'd completely forgotten all about the _Sword Skills, _which the store owner had been babbling about; "This blade allows you to do a _Horizontal _andisn't that just something you want to do, my friend? You can real easily, it only costs 15 Coll!"

I sighed and muttered: " Well, that explains why I've been getting my ass handed to me by level 1 monsters."

After having regained my strength, my health now standing at a respectable 75%, I set out to learn how to do this _Horizontal._ It took me about twenty minutes to figure out which stance it recognized, and what it felt like when it activated, but eventually I got the hang of it.

You didn't need to force the strike, that was too human. No, you had to let the System guide you; had to conform to the binary code that made the move possible.

The feeling of it taking over was unlike any other. It was a charge, energy that wasn't human in any way. The closest I could come was adrenaline, and for all I knew that's what the Nerve Gear made your brain excrete.

In any case it turned out there were two simple beginners hits that my blade could carry out and I wanted to try both of them. I figured the second one out when I accidentally came in the territory of a Boar whilst practicing.

Up until that point there'd never been enough distance for the things to make a full charged sprint at me, allowing them to activate their own little skill. Their skill being skewering you with their tusks. I didn't see the Boar at first, but you sure as hell hear it when it's coming at you full speed.

So there I stood; legs wide, and sword in the air above my head as I looked to the right, heart beating a mile a minute and my eyes and mouth gaping wide. I must have looked like a real food. It was now two meters away from me, and I was panicking alright because it's red eyes were not friendly in the least.

It was one meter away from me when I felt the rush of the system taking over for me. I lifted my left leg in the air, pivoted on my right, and brought my left foot down whilst simultaneously slashing my blade diagonally to the right; cutting it in its side. I don't think I've ever loved technology as much as I did at that moment.

This boar gave me more than just a marginal amound of EXP, it dropped one of it's tusks. Looking at it in my inventory, I found out that it had three uses. The first was that you could craft the simplest and weakest of arrow heads out of them; the second was crafting a necklace out of them; the third, and in my opinon the most useful, was that they were used as an ingredient in Potinos. Except the rest of the ingredients were uknown to me; I'd have to get behind that, making your own potions wasn't a bad idea at all.

After that scare I went back to the city to see if I could do anything interesting with the small amount of money I'd gained. Turned out I couldn't do much more than buying food, Weak Health Potions, or rent the cheapest of rooms.

I spent some money on food, which was what I was most interested in as well as the cheapest. I bought some bread, it was kind of stale and the taste was bland, but considering it was made up of code, it was probably the most special thing I'd eaten in recent times.

As I wandered the streets, searching for anything that resembled an apothacary, I saw people talking to each other and it was the first time I realized that I didn't actually know if anyone in my social circle had also acquired the game.

Tourism, whilst fun was much more fun in a group. I decided that tomorrow I'd ask everyone I knew, aside from the traitor, if they had this technological marvel.

I certainly hoped so, and seeing as I knew a few avid gamers, it was quite likely. All I needed to do was find out their avatar name, and we could go on our merry way; a ragtag group traversing this new world.

For now though I was done with being a tourist, because really that moniker I'd thought up wasn't going to appear by itself; it was time to grind.

Walking on those grassy plains, and fighting every once in a while was the most free I'd ever felt. Yes, at that moment I didn't need friends.

Under that endless sky, wielding my blade, I truly felt I could do anything in this world; I felt indestructible.

It was a feeling that would sadly not last.

* * *

The sun had begun it's decent, and the time in the right corner of my vision said it was around 5:20. I was just sitting on a hill, feeling the soft breeze and the movement of the grass as it swayed along with it, looking at the vibrant colors that streaked across the sky. It was a view that I'd never quite seen, not like this.

Tokyo's skyline might be one hell of sight to see, certainly at night, but it didn't have this tranquil beauty. Besides, after 17 years of living there you get kind of used it. All those lights, noises and people; at some point it just ceases to be all that amazing.

This was new and the closest I'd ever gotten to this in the real world was at the house of my Uncle back in the States, in a suburban neighborhood. At the time I'd thought the fields that surrounded his neighrborhood had been big, but they'd easily fit in this expanse more than twenty times.

It was mind-blowing to think about the fact that this was all computer code, even me. At that very moment I solely consisted of my thoughts, Polygons and was defined by stats.

Right as I was looking at the pink clouds, trying to see if the power of imagination had any effect on the game whatsoever, I was ripped from my tranquil environment and transported back to the plaza where I'd started out.

I wasn't the only one.

The whole plaza was filled with people, all as confused as me. Some still stood in their battle stances, swords raised whilst others were sitting like me. Confused murmurs came from all around me.

I myself had appeared next to a bear of a man, standing half a head taller than me and twice as broad. He had a black hair done in a top not, big slanted eyebrows and a shaggy beard attached to his very square jaw. His eyes were beady and black and his nose was as sharp as could be. A mallet hung on his back, and his shirt was a vibrant yellow. Intimidating was what this guy had gone for, and he had certainly succeeded.

I knew it was an illusion and was not as intimidated as would have been had this been back in the real world.

" So, do you know what's going on?" I asked in my chosen gravelly voice.

The man looked down at me," No, not a clue." he rumbled back.

Before I could reply with a " I see", the sky turned blood red with warning signs. Then the sky bled, and from all that blood (for what else could it be) turned into a robe. A giant, empty GM styled robe.

It was all quite theatrical and intimidating. I might have felt grand on the fields around this city and I might not have felt intimidated by the man next to me, but in front of that eerie monstrosity you couldn't help but feel small.

The being spoke, and the more words that came out of the empty void that was within the robe, the faster my heart began to beat. The Thump-thump of the blood rushing through my ears at an accerelated pace cancelled out some of the words, but I registered it anyways.

Death. This was a game of death and 213 had already paid the ultimate price. I couldn't believe it. Didn't want to believe it. He had to be lying, he just had to!

But as he continued speaking, it became quite clear that he wasn't.

He was speaking in the polite form, and yet is was the bluntest use of the Japanese language I'd ever heard someone use. This Kayaba, the man that all gamers admired and honored, stated all of these horrors with no affliction at all.

All of it was delivered indifferently, as if reading out statistics of a company, or listing all the ailments a patient had. It was too damn clinical, and that's why it had such an impact on us all, much more than if he had spoken rudely and menacingly. Because at the end of the day, the man came over as if bored out of his skull.

His gift, his mirror exposed us all for who we truly were; there was no escapism to be found within this game. As the Kayaba had put it: "I will show you evidence that this is the only reality."

I no longer stood at 1.80, and I no longer felt hair in my neck. Ray the Red with his 3 o' clock shadow and 6-pack was no longer, and I was once more Blake Walker, the 17 year old American who'd lived his whole life in Tokyo.

The giant on my right next to me was no longer there either, instead there stood a gangly teenager. He was still be taller than me, but he no longer towered over me. No longer did he have a grand beard, a strong jaw and bulging muscles. Now he had a long face, a small mustache situated under a round nose and slanted eyes that were a lighter color than they had been a moment ago. Silky black hair that reached his shoulders, and no muscles to brag about.

A Gamer trough and trough, and he looked a stricken as I felt.

The façade that was our avatar had given us a false sense of power, of security. He had ripped that away, the polygons that had taken the form of imagination reshaped into the forms we had tried to escape. The weight of his words had finally and truly dawned on us.

This _was_ real.

The last words the creator of this world spoke before disappearing back from whence he came were: " Now, I have finished the Tutorial for _Sword Art Online _Player- I wish you luck."

Silence reigned for a few minutes, all of us too shocked to do anything. but then a scream pierced it and chaos reigned supreme. Shouts of anger, desperation and cries of sadness filled the plaza. The NPC's looked on in confusion, wondering why we were doing what we were doing. I looked at the gamer, he had sunken to the ground, looking up at the sky in utter disbelief. On my left a girl was bawling her eyes out.

The shock that had kept me still and silent up till now turned into something else altogether; it turned into a righteous fury. I felt the anger bubble inside of me, and I growled.

I wanted to hit. I wanted to hurt, I wanted to hurt something bad like never before, and so I stormed off, pushing the people out of my way. They didn't resist, most of them still stuck in stupor and really it was good they hadn't. I don't know how well that would have ended.

Once out of the main plaza I started running, already unsheathing my weapon. My breathing was heavy, steam of all the fury inside of me. I ran onto the green sea, and I ran towards the first beast I saw. The boar didn't stand a chance.

With a mighty roar I unleashed a _Slant _upon it, and it disintegrated. The sound of breaking glass was music to my ears; and the primal fury that now coursed through me craved for more.

I complied.

Screams of rage, squeals and the sound of breaking glass were what filled the silence of the field. I don't know how long I was at it, but eventually I began to tire. My arms were starting to feel like lead, and so were my legs yet I kept going. At some point I must have entered a different part of the plains, because my next opponent was a different creature.

It was not a _Frenzy Boar_, whose attack pattern I had completely memorized, but it was a _Wolf, _and that threw me off. I was still angry though, and the fury that I had become only wanted to hear the tinkling sound of death. I attacked head on, no plan except to inflict harm upon it.

Turned out it was smarter as well as faster than the boars, because it dodged.

It was the first time that had happened, and in that moment I learned the downside of _Sword Skills;_ the cooling down time. I was still in the last phase of the skill when it attacked. I could not dodge it, for the binary code had me in its grip.

Maw open wide, sharp teeth reflecting some of the left over light of the sun, it bit down on my left arm.

Hard. I felt it tear through flesh and bone, and I screamed.

Not a second later I felt the binary code let me go and I slashed the beast accros face with my sword. It let go with a yelp, and jumped back a few feet.

It narrowed its yellow eyes, and snarled at me. The bar that hung above it showed that it had about 60% of its health left. Seemed like it's face was its weak spot, because that was the most damage I'd done without a _Sword Skill_ all day.

I snarled right back, the anger and adrenaline keeping me going through the pain. The red haze that had clouded my mind had lifted, the painful throbbing of my left arm a sharp reminder that I needed to play this smart. My eyes flicked to my own health bar, it stood 5% higher than my opponent's.

That meant we were on almost equal ground, and I liked those odds; it meant that I could get through this.

My breathing was labored, more so than it had been, and the pain was distracting, but I forced myself to focus on the _Wolf._ It was regarding me with the same intensity. Unconsciously I started to move, and it followed suit; soon enough we were circling each other.

While my body was moving slowly, my brain a big jumble of speeded up thoughts.

I knew that it was faster and more nimble than the boars. I didn't know what it's skill was, but I was betting it was the biting. I had two options and my best bet seemed to be a _Horizontal,_ as it covered the most distance. The problem with the move, as was with all my moves at the current moment, was that they were straight forward. It had already shown that it could easily dodge the very move I was intending to use.

Suddenly there was a fierce burning sensation in my arm and I flinched, turning my sight on my arm. The sight that met me was a real shock; the bite marks were still there. One of them was closed, a white circle on my slightly tanned skin. The others were still open, and out of them leaked a red liquid. I watched in horror, mesmerized, as a red drop made a trail down my arm and finally fell off my wrist. In small flash the drop turned into t a polygon.

The beast noticed my distraction and immediately took action. It knocked me to the ground. In the corner of my vision I saw my bar drop to a light red, 55% of my health gone. That wasn't the biggest thing on my mind at the current moment though. It wasn't the chilling image of my arm bleeding either.

No, what I was concerned with was the fact that the _Wolf _was standing on top of my chest and that its teeth had gained a slight glow to them. He was going to bite me, he was going to kill me! I started trashing, but the wolf stood its ground, not moving from its spot upon my chest.

They were gleaming, all of them looking sharper than before and he struck. I was still thrashing, and that movement was what probably saved my life. Instead of biting my neck, it was my shoulder. I screamed, and in desperation I stabbed my sword right into its side with all my might.

I felt the fur brush my hands, felt the warmth of its breath and the pain as it's muzzle tore through my shoulder. I heard the bone snap, and felt the skin and tendons tear. I forced the sword even deeper, but it wasn't enough and as a result I was going to die, I was sure of it; I was going to be number 214.

Iconic moments of my life flashed before my eyes.

I saw my father, slightly greying hair slicked back and the glasses in front of his focused grey eyes. He was wearing his immaculate suit, with a newspaper in hand as he drank his coffee; his morning and evening ritual. It had been what had given me an in interest in Journalism and he's supported that dream, even indulging me with many a mock interview as kid.

I saw my mother's round face, blue eyes bright and dimples in full effect as always: when humming whilst watering the plants; when playing with me on the beach; when cooking with my first real girlfriend. I remember her trying to copy the bento's that Hikari, the afore mentioned girlfriend, sometimes made for me; it didn't go too well.

I heard much laughter as my best friends push me into the pool, the water balloon fight a month later is my revenge. The staff hadn't exactly liked that little stunt, further cementing our status as part of the most rambunctious lot for most of our middle school years. The three of us were as thick as thieves, telling each other everything.

I saw the girl who recently broke my heart kissing my best friend, starting the biggest fight me and Aichiro have ever had. I smiled bitterly at the thought that that would never get resolved.

As these images passed in front of my retina I waited for a white light to engulf me, for me to turn into the code this body consists of. I waited for the tinkling sound that signifies death in this world.

It arrived, but not in the way I had imagined.

The growls that had been right next to my ear disappeared, replaced by the sound of breaking polygons; the great weight on my chest was gone, and so was the body my sword had been stuck in. This game was completely accurate when it concerned anatomy and through pure luck I'd stuck it's heart.

Looking at my HP bar I saw the numbers 25/250, the bar next to them being the same dark red as the blood that was splashed on my shoulder. On my torso lay a slab of meat as well as some fur. The words -Level Up!- flashed above my health bar, but I barely registered that because I couldn't tear my eyes away from the items.

I started to laugh at the absurdity of it all.

It started out slow, but soon enough I was cackling hysterically. The laughter didn't last long though; the fury and euphoria were both gone and all that I was left with was pain and the crushing weight of this new reality.

All the fear, pain and confusion that the fury had been pushing down took over and I cried. I cried because I might never see my family and friends again; I cried because I was so close to dying; I cried because I'd never felt as terrible and alone as I did then.

Whilst hot salty tears streamed down my face, the wounds were closing excruciatingly slow, with a hot burning sensation as if the System were putting both salt and alcohol on them. With shaking hands I opened up my menu and used my last _Weak Health Potion. _It didn't put a stop to the pain, but it did speed up the healing.

I don't know how long I lay there, all I know is that the sun was no longer in the sky. With each star that appeared the pain lessoned, and eventually all I felt was a dull throb.

I raised my arm and looked at it. White circles, each about the size of my thumb, cover my lower arm on both sides. With puffy, red eyes I looked at them like they held the answers that the white circles in the sky didn't. I look down to my shoulder, and see a large patch of white skin that clashes with my natural tan.

Ray the Red, warrior extraordinaire was the one who should have be wearing them and not me, Blake Walker. Yet there I was, wearing scars given to me by a wolf. As I continued to look at them, anger once again made itself master of me.

How dare this world change how I looked when it had already taken away so much! I had somewhat come to terms that I was stuck within this virtual reality, it was simply undeniable at this point, but I would not let it control my being any more than it already did.

This was my identity, damn it!

With angry movements I navigated through the menu to where I should have been able to change the mode of playing. Should have, because the tab that should have said _Damage Absorption _was that just like the logging out button; blank.

I could still change the sound stats, for example to kill the sound of when I received a message, and I could still adjust to when my alarm clock went off but I could no longer access the mode of playing.

Sliding my gaze back up to the cosmos and looked for the constellations that my Uncle had taught me oh so long ago. They were not there, driving home the point that I was truly in a different world all together, with no hints to back home.

It was under the light of these strange stars I realized that these scars were just the first of many.

* * *

**AN: **Well, this is an Idea that I've had for a long while, but one that hasn't spoken to me for over a year. SAO abridged is what revived it, and for that I'm glad. So go watch it, it's hilarious.

An important thing to know about this little story is that whist it does take place within Canon, this is not Kirito's or Asuna's story. They exist, but they won't be seen for quite a while, of that I'm quite certain. Aside from that though I have no concrete idea of where this will go. That's always the most fun about writing, it brings you to places you didn't even consider at first.

Anyhow, I don't expect to many views for this first chapter, but hey one can hope right?

Cheers,

Ray the Red


	2. Of Vital Importance

_Of Vital importance_

_"The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital."_

_\- Joe Paterno_

On that first evening I learned another very important lesson about the world I had just entered: never, ever go out at night unless you have the skills to back it up.

The moon hung in the sky, a white crescent. It was the only thing in this reality that reminded me of home, and forlornly I looked at it. Suddenly howls pierced the relative silence that had blanketed the plains up till now, the soundtrack having become background noise to me. The noise startled me out of my moping daze and I looked to where the sound came from. I saw pinpricks of yellow turn into a glowing red. They were thankfully quite a ways away, also looking at that crescent, but I still gulped and got my gear moving.

My health was only back up to 50%, and I was tired as hell; physically and emotionally spent. My shirt was ripped, showing my newly acquired battle medal, and my sword was already starting to chip. Frankly, I didn't stand a chance against another wolf, let alone against a pack. The ominous change of their eye-color didn't make the prospect of my survival on these plains any better. I was sick of these rolling hills and unknown stars anyways.

In my anger I'd apparently deviated quite a bit from the main road, and so I was trudging over the now dark grass in the cities general direction. It wasn't that hard to spot, grand walls towering in the distance. They were a sure promise of safety, and after having looked death in the face, exactly what I needed; the beds that lay behind those stone behemoths were beckoning me. I was the moth and _Starting City _was the flame I was drawn towards.

I was beating myself up mentally for giving in to my anger and leaving their safety, because I'd seriously screwed up.

It wasn't just that I'd deviated from the road, I'd also covered quite a distance in general. The city had three exists, and the one I'd exited after Kayaba's announcement wasn't even in my sight anymore.

Hell, I couldn't see any of the gates from this distance.

Furthermore, I didn't know what differentiated the wolf inhabited plains from the boar inhabited ones. So to be safe, I assumed both critters were to be found on the whole expanse.

My caution was what keeping me from sprinting back, because I remembered all too well what had happened the last time I'd run head long into something.

As was bound to happen at some point, I encountered a monster. It was a Frenzy Boar, and I felt relieved because I could deal with them. In fact, I needn't even worry all because they were docile creatures with anger management problems; you had to provoke it into battle.

My knowledge on the behavior of Boars was soon corrected and expanded upon, because it looked at me with red eyes.

Furious, red eyes; nothing docile about 'em.

There was also the fact that it's tusks were larger, longer and sharper. The words above its health bar made what little confidence I still had crumble: _\- Level 3-_ . I hadn't even paid attention to what level the_ Wolf_ had been, but If that fight had been any indication, level gaps of any kind were dangerous this early on.

It's health would obviously be higher, and looking at those tusks it's attack stat must have been raised as well. It wasn't much bigger, so it's speed had hopefully remained about the same.

My health stood at a lovely 53%, just in the yellow. I hadn't done anything regarding my leveling, too absorbed in my own woe, and I was really starting to regret it. I wondered if I had gotten any new Sword Skills, and quickly I navigated menu to see I if I had.

I had gained another Skill slot, but my Sword Skills were still at a total of two. I had a feeling that was going to be the case for quite a while. At least I had some diversity, I'd have to make due. Not to say that _Horizontal_ wasn't effective, but the _Wolf_ had already shown what a stronger creature could do; namely dodging it.

The far from docile _Boar_ had taken advantage of the time it took me to navigate my menu, and was fully charged. It squealed in anger, as if announcing its vengeance on behalf of its fallen kin. A trail of white followed it as it shot forward.

The dark of the night made it hard to distinguish it's bleu form, but the trail of white gave away it's trajectory. I was ready, and exactly like I had dispatched of the first boar that had dropped a tusk, my now bleu colored blade struck it as it passed me by.

It didn't stop and ran on, although the trail of light was no longer following it, and the bar above it had turned a light green.

Another thing I had noticed about the Boars was that their skill had a long cooling time. Up until that point I'd always used one _Sword skill_ and my normal hits to take them down, most of the time me working with _Slant_. A single _Sword Skill_ had usually been enough.

Now that it wasn't a thought that was long overdue popped into my mind.

I had two moves at my disposal and whilst one was reloading I could use the other; chaining. Just like I had chained magic spells in the older MMORPG's, I could chain my Sword Skills in this world.

I cursed at myself for not thinking of it before, seemingly having forgotten that this was a game. A now apparently deadly one, yes, but one all the same.

With this new strategy in mind I activated _Horizontal_, striking it again. It squealed in pain, and hobbled to the right. The bar was now a light red, having lost a little over half of its health.

I didn't let up and attacked without a skill, both of them cooling down, but it dodged.

Damn! I'd have liked to have dealt it some more damage before it was recharged, but sadly the 10 second gap of cooling down had passed.

I didn't let that get to me too much though, because _Slant_ was once again available to me. I really quite liked that diagonal slash, as it was quite literally the least straight forward out of all my moves.

Of course, once you'd seen it you could easily anticipate when I'd use it. Thankfully the Boar wasn't that smart, even if having become stronger, and it once again readied it's skill.

Confidently I held my ground, believing I had the upper hand.

Just like before it scraped its front hooves, and snorted loudly. Once more it shot forward, but instead of the white light that I was used to, a purple light trailed it. It blended nicely with its fur and the darkness of the night.

My eyes widened as realized that tracking it had just become an almost impossible task and I cursed, "Fuck!"

Of course it had a new skill, it was a level higher than me! How arrogant could I be, assuming that it would still be so easy to take down. Damn it, and I had been so cautious before this battle too!

Those hopes of it having kept its speed stats were crushed; it was faster now and I abandoned my calm stance.

I swerved to the right, but it easily followed my trajectory, still coming at me. The tusks were now the only thing that I could somewhat track. I cursed as dodging it was looking to be impossible. Maybe if I had had the Night Vision Skill in one of my slots it would have been easier, but it wasn't so I was royally screwed; I could barely see it, I couldn't outmaneuver it, and seeing as it was faster I could not time my _Slant_ perfectly like before.

I was sure I was going to die because I simply wasn't fast enough. Goddamn it, I needed to be faster and suddenly I knew exactly what I needed to do.

I activated _Horizontal_, which had thankfully reloaded, and shot forward. I wasn't even aiming at the creature, no I was aiming where it had come from. It could easily out speed me when I was going my normal pace, and seeing as I was level a 2 with un-updated stats that wasn't very fast, but I could rival it's speed when I was doing a _Horizontal_.

Or at least that was my logic.

It still out sped me, so it was able to change its trajectory just enough to hit me, but thankfully my sword, imbued with the power of the system, took the brunt of the damage. Sharpened bone met metal, and flashes of light caused by friction lit up its bleu hide as I passed it by.

Instead of dying, my health sunk to 20%.

Our backs were turned to each other as the system let us go, both of us touching down on the plains. I immediately turned around and ran in its direction.

If it's earlier move had a long time of cooling down, then this one would last even longer. I needed to put it down for good, before It could unleash it again.

It seemed to have similar thoughts, turning around as well and immediately activating it's _Rush _as I entered the right distance. I grinned as it shot forward, a familiar white following its thundering hooves.

This I _could_ deal with and I confidently stood my ground.

Standing in a now familiar stance I lifted the blade above my shoulder. I saw the light blue energy gather, lifted my left leg, and with all my might slammed down my blade.

"Die!" was what I screamed as I put all my fear, desperation and anger behind that swing. It felt like I was adding to the force of the System, and with a sigh of relief I watched it's bleu body turn into the white particles that had trailed it.

The white notification that popped up announced my victory over a level 3 creature. The EXP and the Col were certainly a substantial amount more, giving me a total of 34 EXP and 40 Col, but so was the damage.

I was in the red and out of potions, my armor (if it could still be called that) was completely wasted with tears all over it, and my blade looked like it was going to turn into Polygons any minute. The throbbing scars were still there too.

I needed to get back to _Starting City_, and fast. Before I did that though, I was going to distribute the points I had obviously gained when leveling up and fill up the empty Skill slots. I was going to give myself every advantage I could have; not only to survive the night but to survive this death game as a whole.

I navigated through my menu and came to my stats. They were a sore sight to look at:

Strength: 5

Agility: 5

Dexterity: 5

Perception: 5

Vitalty: 5

Luck: ?

I couldn't view luck and I assumed you couldn't change it either, perhaps I would be able to at a later date, but I wasn't going to waste my three precious points on something I couldn't even see.

Instead I added one to Perception, Vitality and Dexterity. Strength would come later, at the current moment I was more concerned with seeing and escaping my enemies, than actually beating them.

In lieu of that thought I filled my two empty Skill slots with _Night Vision_ and _Sprint_.

I looked over my equipment quickly as well, and my earlier assessment had been spot on; it was all ready to crumble.

Well, there was nothing that was keeping me on these plains anymore. It was going to be a bit tougher, the _Frenzy Boars_ now out for my blood, but I was faster now. I had survived up till now.

I, Blake Walker, had looked death in the face twice and come out on top. If I could do that, I could outrun it.

"I can do this." I whispered, and started running.

* * *

Two pairs of blue eyes followed my every movement as I fell down on the dirt road. I lay there completely out of breath and my real body was probably sweating like crazy. I must have made quite an image with my tattered armor and scars, but I didn't care. I was just glad to have made it.

I was just glad to be alive, and to show this I kissed the dirt road I lay upon whilst tears streamed down my face. Best tasting dirt ever; It tasted like victory.

"Uhh…Gulliver did he just die on us? " asked a male voice.

" I don't know, Trenan. Lord, I certainly hope not! " exclaimed another male voice, this one a bit higher in pitch. " How about you poke him with your spear?"

" Ah! Good idea!"

I heard the clanking of armor and sure enough I felt something poke me. " Hello, are you alive?" came the voice of this Trenan.

I had still not regained control of my breath even if I had no lungs here, but I sure as hell had them on earth, and they were working over-time. So the response he got was not a word, but the raising of a thumbs up.

" Well what do you know, he's still kicking!"

"Yeah, but from the looks of him, he's not going to move anywhere anytime soon." was Gulliver's astute observation.

He had that right, I wasn't going to move a muscle until I felt up to it. I was perfectly okay with just lying there. In fact, sleeping didn't sound bad at all and I closed my eyes.

It was silent for a moment and then I heard a sigh, " Okay, he really isn't getting up on his own. Let's help the poor guy, the least we can do is bring him inside the city."

Had I had a shred of honor left within me I would have lifted myself off the ground. Had I not felt this tired I would have moved. Had I had anything left to give, I would have. But I was completely spent, and so I did none of that. I just lay there with my eyes closed, hoping for sleep to take me.

Instead of sleep wrapping me up in darkness, hands wrapped themselves around my arms and I felt myself being hoisted up into the air. "Up you go," said Trenan. I had only heard him speak three sentences, but he seemed like a good man.

My toes were scraping against the ground and I felt the cold metal of their armor on my bare arms. It was much cooler than the dirt road, and I liked that; I was still warm from all that running.

They walked in silence, the only noise being the clanking of their armor. There was no dispute about who should open up the gate and a little while later they put me down. I smiled as I felt the bumps of the cobble stone roads that make up Starting City and the reassuring cool stone that my back was leaning against must have been the walls I'd been running towards.

With monumental effort I opened my eyes and looked upon the men who had the decency to move my bedraggled ass to safety.

In front of me stood two guards, both dressed up in a bronze armor. They stood at around the height my avatar used to be, although one was slightly taller. Two square helmets covered two heads that could not have been more different. The only thing the two faces had in common was a pale skin and blue eyes, but even those differed in shade.

Both were young, probably somewhere in their twenties. The taller one had the long face and on his chin sat a goatee. Some black hair stuck out from under his helmet; it looked curly and fit well with the kind face he wore, which was all smiles and soft blue eyes.

The shorter of the duo had a rounder face, and blonde hair that reached his shoulders. He had no facial hair, but was instead distinguished by large, blonde eyebrows and an equally large nose. His eyes were smaller and slightly darker than those of his partner. He looked like he was of Nordic descent and out of the two he seemed the more serious one.

By now I had regained my breath, but my voice still came out as a rasp: " Thank you."

Damn, this Never Gear really was a technological marvel; I was thirsty as hell, my throat completely parched. Well, it was sending those signals to my brain making me think that, but I was pretty sure my throat was just as parched in real life. I had been in this game for more than ten hours now and I doubted that any liquid had entered my body through my throat.

I was shaken out of my comparison of my virtual body's current state and that of the real one by Trenan's voice, "Not a problem, you weren't too heavy to carry. Besides were just glad you're alive."

The taller one was Trenan, as I'd guessed from where his voice had come from back outside these walls.

The shorter one, Gulliver, immediately took over and said with a crease in his brow: "Now, I know it's probably none of my business but what in hell were you doing out on the plains at night? You do know the monster go _Feral_ under the light of the moon, right?"

I smiled wryly and said: " I do now."

Both looked at me as if I was insane, and to them I must have been.

" Now this is a story I want to hear," mumbled Trenan.

" I can tell it to you, it's the least I can do. It's not the most interesting of stories, though."

Both snorted at that.

" Trust me, it'll be the most interesting thing we'll have heard all month. It'll certainly have more action than Trenan's romantic escapades," replied Gulliver whilst pointing at his companion.

" True, but at least were both busy at night," came the Casanova's returning quip, a lecherous grin stretched across his face.

I felt myself grin as the blonde gave an annoyed look at his friend whose eyes were crinkled in mirth, but it was gone just as soon.

If their armor and yellow cursors hadn't it given away, the fact that they hadn't seen the giant form of Kayaba sure did; with a slap I was reminded that they were NPC. It also immediately became apparent to me that I would have to alter my story because to them this wasn't a game they couldn't log out of, this was their world.

Their world, not mine.

What little elation and energy I'd felt was gone, and suddenly I didn't want to talk anymore. All I wanted to do was to sleep and to forget. I told them so.

" Tomorrow," I coughed but continued on "Tomorrow I'll tell you the story. "

Both nodded, understanding looks aimed at my pathetic form.

" Alright kid, we'll keep you to that. Now go get some rest, you deserve it."

They turned around, starting to move back to their post when Trenan turned around. "You sure you can move to an Inn yourself?"

I nodded.

He nodded back, waved and moved on. Soon enough they were outside the walls again.

With that I was once again stuck with my thoughts. Kayaba had said this was our new reality now, and as I thought back to how life-like that their actions and mannerisms had been I had to wonder how far the ability of these AI went. How realistic had that man made this world, and more importantly its inhabitants?

Would they remember that I'd said all that, it was just storing a certain amount of information and technology was certainly capable of that. However they, like my sword skills, worked through a certain algorithm. A certain set of commands and actions, that was it. It always had been when one played an RPG. But then a certain amount of choices had always been present as well, now The System had to deal with the erratic thought process of humans.

It was therefore not only possible, but very likely that they had already forgotten me, the algorithm rebooting once they arrived on their designated spot. I certainly hoped not; them remembering me would mean that I had made a mark on this world – I looked at my scars – not it only leaving it's marks on me.

* * *

I don't know when I fell asleep, but I do know that I never got up to move myself to an inn. As the sun's rays woke me from my slumber, I groggily opened my eyes. The vague and small hope that it had all been a nightmare was mercilessly crushed as I felt the cobble stones still beneath me and heard the calm background music of _Starting City_. The HP bar hovering in my vision was completely full, so at least there was a silver lining.

The scars no longer throbbed, but I felt pins and needles all over. I made a note to myself to avoid sleeping on cobble stone roads in the foreseeable future. Languidly I stretched out the kinks that my sleeping position had bestowed me, and started to move to an inn or a restaurant as I was starving.

The sun wasn't all that high yet and the clock told me that it was 8:15 AM, in my mind the perfect time to eat breakfast. I entered the first establishment of the sort I came across. It was small, dingy bar that went by the name " The Goblet".

The inside consisted of a bar, about 15 tables, and set of stairs that went up to the second floor. Not a whole lot of light came in, but the interior whilst not exactly bright was far from creepy. In fact, had it not been empty it probably could have come over as cozy.

Being at the outer edge of the whole city probably had something to do with that. The early hour probably didn't help.

"Welcome, and how may I help you?" came a female voice.

The one who'd spoken was a woman, probably the owner of the establishment, and by the looks of her she was my mother's age, though twice my mother's size. That was not to say she was fat, it was just say that she was a large woman. Big boned would be the word.

She was wearing an apron over a brown dress, which had probably seen better days, and her equally brown hair, which was braided quite nicely, went past her shoulders - how far I could only guess. She'd been sitting at one of the tables, but had gotten up as soon as I'd come in.

Looked like I was her first guest of the day, if not a while.

"Some food and drinks would certainly help me," is what I said as I took a seat at the nearest table.

"Well we most certainly do have that, here take look and choose what you fancy," and she pointed to the blackboard that hung on one of the pillars. It wasn't a particularly large list, as far as the choices for food were concerned, but the ample amount of choices for beverages more than made up for that.

After reading the list three times I'd come to a decision, "I'll have some goat milk and the Traveler's breakfast." What the Traveler's breakfast consisted of was a mystery to me, but soon enough I'd find out. It was the second cheapest breakfast set available, costing only 15 col.

" Alright, good choices. It'll be right up. " and she walked past the bar, probably to the kitchen to prepare my meal. Turned out her hair reached her shoulder blades.

Once again all that I was left with was the sound of the background music, which had changed ever so slightly since I'd entered the establishment. I couldn't help but smile, as playing music whilst eating breakfast, or doing homework had always been a habit of mine. One which constantly annoyed the people around me, and plenty a petty arguments had started because of it over the years. I hated silence, except for when I wanted to sleep, then silence was a boon.

Seeing as she was going to be gone for at least a little while I decided to look at what yesterday's escapade had provided me with.

As I checked my inventory I found that my killing spree had brought me quite the haul: I had two boar hides, three pieces of Boar meat and five tusks plus the two items the wolf had dropped.

The amount of Col wasn't bad either, though I knew that most of that would be spent today. The condition of my equipment was abhorrent and needed an immediate upgrade.

Especially the blade, considering it hadn't lasted longer than a day and had been about as expensive as this breakfast. Although, in all fairness the thing had saved my life twice so it had certainly served its purpose.

What had saved my life as well were my now level 3 Skills of _Night Vision_ and_ Sprint_ because as that race to safety had gone on, the better I'd become at seeing the forms of the Frenzy Boars. My _One Handed Sword_ Skill was at level 6, showing just how fast they leveled although the level curve was bound to go up at some point. Kayaba wouldn't have made it easy for us.

In fact all of the players had known that going in. The Beta testers, those 1000 lucky bastards, had only gotten to the 6th level. Sword Art Online was lauded as one of the hardest game since Dark Souls II. And that was with re-spawning, we didn't have that luxury. I scowled at the odds, and anger built up inside of me.

As a good smell had started to enter the room, those dark thoughts were sent to the backburner.

I couldn't help but wonder about the purpose of food in this world. It wasn't really necessary considering we consisted of code, but I suppose it had to do with Kayaba wanting to make this world as realistic as possible. Besides the Nerve Gear probably also had to fool the brain into thinking that it was being fed, so this was a good way as any.

Yes, look for the silver linings, that's what I had to do.

I looked up as I heard the sound of footsteps and sure enough there was my meal.

" Here you go, one Traveler's Breakfast and Goat Milk. Please, do enjoy. " is what she said as she put the plate and glass in front of me. What filled the glass was self-explanatory, but what was on the plate was what had my interest.

It was a loaf of bread, but it sure looked better than the 1 Col equivalent I'd eaten yesterday, especially with the meat and cheese on top of it. The egg that lay next to it was also a nice surprise. Now only the taste was what was left to see if it had been money well spent.

"We'll see."

I didn't regret my choice in the least. Sure, the bread was still a little stale and the cheese was bitter as could be, but the Milk washed it down fine. The egg was hard boiled and tasted just like it always had. Most importantly it quelled my hunger and thirst, so I no longer had to worry about that.

One less worry, another step. Steps and silver linings, that would be my road. My road to the top.

"Thank you, it was delicious." I got up, ready to leave seeing as I'd already paid her back when I'd given her my order.

"Thank you, I'm glad to hear that." she smiled, making her laugh lines and crow's feet a little more pronounced.

I was about to walk out when a thought suddenly struck me and I asked, " Do you perhaps need meat, because I have some with me right now and I'd be more than happy to sell it to you. "

She blinked in surprise. " Well I don't need meat, I've got more than enough in the back. What I need is flour. See, I ran out and the delivery is late. If you could get the ten sack delivery of flour for me from Pan's bakery I'd be indebted to you."

With a bling a screen appeared in front of me with the message 'Do you accept this quest?'. It was my turn to blink, as I'd certainly not expected that to happen, but I was more than glad to oblige.

I had all the time in the world and whilst many said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions that was only partly right. Roads need funding; the road to hell is paved with good intensions and cash. My road might not lead to hell – I was pretty sure I was already in one – but it certainly wouldn't get paved without currency.

I pressed on the button with the circle and said "Absolutely. So, where is Pan's bakery exactly?"

" It's in the South eastern District, a lot closer to the center than us. It's not large like Rye's Bakery or Barley's Bread, but it does well enough and should be easy to spot because of its iconic sign, which is a scarecrow with a baker's outfit. Tell him Gertha of The Goblet sent you, and he'll know."

" Alright, Pan's Bakery is my next stop," I made my way to the door and opened it, " Thanks again for the food."

" Oh wait!" I turned around, " There's a butcher shop across from Pan's Bakery, they'd most certainly be interested in your offer!"

I smiled, nodded and walked out onto the street again.

Now, South East is what she'd said, that meant to the outer wall of Aincrad, literally down town. At the moment I didn't know whether I currently was North or West, seeing as if I'd been in the East she'd just have said that the bakery was in the south.

So, I opened up the map and found out that the gate I'd entered was the West one, instead of the one in the North one, which I had exited from. Suddenly the amount of time it had taken me to get back to Starting City didn't seem so illogical anymore.

Speaking of distances, this walk was going to take a while as well, not only because the city as big as a Tokyo district, but because I was sure I'd get sidetracked eventually.

I was a curious person, it was inevitable. Not to mention that I needed new gear, and there were many shops in this urban sprawl.

On top of that the map didn't mark the spot of Pan's Bakery - no GPS for me - meaning that I'd have to go about it the old fashioned way: wander in that general direction and hope for the best. Oh and pester every person – no, NPC - about it, maybe I'd get another quest out of it.

That reminded me, what the hell was the reward for this quest anyway?

I opened up the tab for quests and found that the reward was some Col and her recipe for making porridge. Maybe investing my next skill slot with cooking was an idea, it would probably save me money. Still, the idea making my own potions was a lot more savvy. With these thoughts swirling in my mind I started to walk to the south.

The streets out here by the wall were mostly populated by NPC's, which were discernible by their yellow cursors, which reminded me of the fact that Gertha hadn't had a cursor hanging above her head. To test out a theory I entered an item shop whose billboard sign had a treasure chest drawn on it.

Sure enough this store owner didn't have a cursor above his head either, probably because they were more of a distraction in a closed off space such as a shop or bar. I browsed around a little and found a small book with the title 'Strategy guide', and best of all it was free. For the rest I didn't buy anything, first I was going to see what the price was for everything in varying stores.

I kept on walking, from time to time entering a shop to browse and ask about Pan's Bakery.

At around 10:30 I exited an armory in an all new outfit. This new outfit consisted mostly of new armor, which was exactly the same style as the one I'd worn yesterday but a whole lot sturdier.

I was especially pleased with the arm braces, which hadn't been part of the beginner set, and I'd also replaced the red shirt that had been completely ruined by the Wolf. The best part was that it covered up my shoulder wound now, and saved me from being looked at weirdly by the few players who weren't completely absorbed in their own woe.

Yes, whilst _Starting City_ had a calming soundtrack and scenery, the mood all over the place was drab and depressing. It was more a medieval ghost town today than the thriving hub it had been yesterday.

Still, people did talk and the most popular topic at the moment, which I'd caught snippets of, was that yesterday a guy had jumped off the fence all the way to the South in the belief that the Nerve Gear would release him from this death game.

Nobody really knew if he'd succeeded, but apparently after 2 minutes of falling his body and scream could no longer be heard or seen.

Many different theories of what had happened to him were out there: that he'd actually succeeded, but the easy counter argument was that if that was the case people on the outside would have already found a way to free us; that he was still falling down, a purgatory all for himself as long as this game went on; that he'd died upon reaching whatever world Aincrad was floating so high above; or that he'd died at the end of those two minutes.

I myself believed, and for his sake hoped it to be the last. Truly, if I had to die I wanted it to be quick and painless.

Death here, if last night had been any indication, was certainly quick, though painless was certainly questionable seeing as your brain would be fried right after. The last thing you'd ever see would be this world, whatever monster had done you in and a flash of light as you turned into polygons. Would you feel yourself turning into polygons, breaking into millions of pieces? Who knew, it was an odd, abstract and hard to accept thing.

It was also hard to accept that we were stuck in a Death game, although I suppose that in the end it didn't really matter; we were mortal in both the virtual and the real world. The only difference was that now the stakes had been raised.

I suppose that for many it was a surreal experience, feeling more like a nightmare than a new reality. They still couldn't believe that we were stuck.

Only one day had passed, and they still held on firm to the belief that we would be freed. It was something that was easy to believe, to grab onto; a floating device whilst you were floundering in this chaos that our lives had become.

A floating device that a wolf had forcibly removed from my grip, making me drown in a turmoil of emotions.

After the emotions had been dealt with I got back to thinking clearly (clearer, I was an emotional person by nature). Sure it was something that a part of me wished for – for it to be true - but just like when Neo had swallowed the Red pill, there was no turning back. There was no turning back from the truth.

The truth was that we weren't going to be freed.

Kayaba was hailed as one of the greatest – if not the greatest - technological genius of our time, supposedly he'd started this whilst he was in college. By his second year he was already the head of Development Branch for Argus, and if not invented then he'd certainly perfected the NerveGear. Ten years of almost non-stop work had gone into this world, and worst of all, into keeping us here.

He hadn't built a physical prison, no he'd built us a mental and virtual prison. How were they going to break us out of that?

They weren't, that was what.

I was quite sure the man was sitting somewhere, watching all of this and feeling goddamn pleased. If I were him I sure as hell would.

I thought that I'd known hate, felt it when Aichiro had betrayed years of trust, but that had paled into comparison to what I'd felt yesterday.

I hated Kayaba Akihiko, that too was the truth.

On top of that I hated this world and I wouldn't stare into nothing, thinking of home like so many people were. As Bob Marley had sung in his Redemption Song, a classic that my English teacher had introduced to us, "None but ourselves can free our minds."

Well I was going to free my mind; so just like Kayaba had given everything to create this world, I would give everything to escape it.

In order to escape it though I needed to be able to take down monsters, and in order to take down monsters you needed a weapon – one that wasn't almost at the end of its use.

I entered a random weapon shop and browsed through the weapons.

I came across my blade again and went up in price range from there. There were two-handed long swords, hammers and even a spear, but I went for none of them. They needed a different skill, would need more training and at the moment the one-handed sword was the highest skill I possessed.

I wasn't about to throw away the progress I'd made yesterday so I eventually I went for a 40 Col one handed sword, which was basically a sturdier version of my current blade. It was slightly darker in color, probably because it had more layers or was made of a better grade metal.

In any case it's specs were better, and that was all that mattered.

The shop owner, a bald but heavily bearded man, also provided me with the first concrete information about the whereabouts of Pan's Bakery. Apparently it was real close, a few blocks to the right. I thanked the man – NPC, I reminded myself - and left the shop in a better mood than I'd entered it.

Sure enough ten minutes later I stood in front of the shop I'd set out to find, scarecrow icon and all.

The shop was indeed a lot closer to the center, and as such it was bigger than the shops at the other end of the city. See, the further south you went the more expensive and grand the neighborhoods became, apparently the logic being the further away from the gates the safer you were.

The storefront was composed of one window and you could looks right through and overlook the whole shop, wares and all. It was comparable to a bakery me and my friends had often visited on our walks home from Middle school. The muffins there had been a favorite of mine.

Just like in that shop a tingling bell announced my entry, and I immediately went to the counter. Two blonde men manned it. One looked to be the father, the other to be the son.

I gathered that the father was the owner, and as such made my way to him.

"Hello, what can I do ya for?" asked the older man, with an accent I couldn't really place.

"Gertha from The Goblet sent me to get her delayed delivery. "

Both men sighed. " Ryan, can ya go get the delivery for our customer and after that call yer brother. Enough is enough." Apparently this had happened before.

Ryan nodded and moved to the back of the shop. The father continued to speak, "Sorry about all this, my second son, Bran, has his head in the clouds and disappears off to god knows where, more often than not forgetting to complete the things I've tasked him with. "

I waved away his concerns, "It's okay, not like I had better things to do today anyway."

"Ah, resting day for you new recruits?"

New recruits? Did _Starting City_ have an army? Well it certainly had a guard, maybe that's what he meant.

To be sure I'd look it up in the guide, for now I just nodded," Yes, exactly."

I looked at the wares and found more than just bread, even if this seemed to be the main thing Pan's Bakery sold. It probably had to do with the name of the place, which was a pun seeing as the Japanese word for bread was "pan". Or, that's what I made of it at least.

Aside from the bread there were a few cupcakes and other delicacies - no muffins though - all of which looked pretty good, but I wasn't going to waste my money them, maybe as a reward for gaining a new level or something. I'd definitely decided I'd only eat when it was necessary, and then only going up in price when I had a reason or money to spare.

At the moment neither was the case.

My mind was thrown off of track as Ryan came back with a wheelbarrow in which lay the ten bags of Flour.

" Bran's out again dad, can't find him inside," said Ryan as he looked at his father.

The father grumbled under his breath about his other sons absence whilst Ryan picked up a sack. With a thump the flour hit the counter and the blonde teenager turned his sights to me, "Here ya go Sir, sorry again for the delay."

The bleu trade/purchasing window opened and I accepted the amount of ten flour sacks. The wheelbarrow was immediately empty, saving Ryan a lot of effort. Me too, now that I thought about it.

I could have never carried all ten sacks, let alone the rest of my things as easy as I was now. Whilst playing games I'd always thought it was handy, but now that I was experiencing it for the first time myself I truly realized how convenient having an Inventory really was.

Of course, it had a limit but that was expected. I wondered if the more you filled it, the more you would feel it. Would it for example slow you down if it was full? That, I supposed, was something only time would tell.

Still, I'd hold on to all the silver linings I could get my hands on.

"Thanks and if anyone should apologize it's your brother, and least of all to me but to Gertha."

Ryan nodded, " I'll tell him that, when he shows up."

"Good." And with that I left Pan's Bakery.

I looked at the shop that stood across from it.

It was about the same size, maybe just a bit bigger, and furnished almost exactly the same.

Hog's, as the sign with a frenzy boar drawn on it made clear, is what the place was called. It was the place I'd be able to sell my meat, and that made me smile, the prospect of more money a nice one.

I entered the shop, a bell once more announcing my entrance.

What I had expected to find behind the counter was a big, fat bald man as that is what shows and games usually depicted butchers as. You know, with bloodied apron and all, but that was not the case.

No, what stood behind the counter was a really cute girl.

She had curly brown hair braided just as complicated as the hairdo of Gertha and big green eyes. Her face was pale, and the bridge of her small pudgy nose was smudged with small freckles. She stood as tall as me and had a decent-sized bust. As I entered she smiled, showing two rows of perfectly white teeth.

A nice view, if I was any judge. The system had done something right here.

" Hello, how can I help you?"

Her voice was strong, yet it wasn't harsh or brash. If anything it reminded me of the voice of Rukia Kuchiki, a character from a quite old show that my mother had loved in her younger days. I'd often watched it as a kid, seeing that we had the whole DVD set at my grandparents' house.

"I have some boar and wolf meat and I'd like to sell it."

"Well, let's see what you have to offer," and with a bling the trading window opened.

I put the four slabs into the window, and the prices appeared. I was content with the deal I got and I clicked on the circle to bring the deal around.

" Pleasure doing business with you." is what I said to her as the Col was added to my stash, replenishing some of the money I spent today.

A good view and a good deal, nothing more was needed as far I was concerned.

" Yeah, same to you. Hey, maybe this is too much to ask but could you get me more of that wolf meat?"

For the second time that day the 'do you accept this quest' box popped up in front of my eyes. It looked like my belief that it'd happen had been correct.

The quest was called '15 slabs for Hog's', getting straight to the point just like the shops sign. And NPC or not, she was beautiful. The money alone was good enough reason, but seeing her again would be a nice reward of it's own. Silver linings and all that.

I accepted the quest, and said: "Sure thing."

She showed off her perfect teeth again and said, "Thank you!"

I nodded back, " I'll see you once I have those slabs," and exited the shop.

It was precisely 12, and the sun was high and bright with only a few clouds dotting the sky. I was about to go back the way I had come, ready to claim my reward for the ten sack of flour from Gertha when something struck me; I had no obligations whatsoever.

None.

I had no homework, nothing to clean. No girlfriend to visit or help. No part time job, well except perhaps the quests, but they had no time limits - yet- and I could get back a month later so to speak and I'd still get the money.

Besides, roads get paved but not without a blue print; it was time to start working on that blue print.

* * *

A blueprint doesn't pop out of nothing, and neither does a road.

I was going to get a lay of the land, and the first place to do that was the people. More specifically to see the extent of the capabilities of the NPC that populated this world.

However, seeing as I didn't know anything about this city - let alone this world – I was going to read up on it before I was going to see if giving my thanks to the two guards at the Northern Gate was a worthwhile action.

The plaza where we'd all been summoned the day before really was a serene place when there were no red skies or giant floating GM's.

Light hit the fountain just right, creating a sparkling picture and the sun hanging above the clock tower added to its beauty. The only thing that put a damper on things was the huge amount of people, all of them confused and worried.

The square was packed, many believing that if there was any place that the freeing would happen it would be here. It was honestly the most logical answer, seeing as we'd all appeared here when we logged on so why could the reverse not be true?

It was the logical choice, but it was flawed logic. Logging off should be possible everywhere, there was no reason that it was easier in this place than any other. Still, as I stood there looking at those scared and slightly hopeful faces I myself believed it for a bit.

I shook those thoughts away, took a seat underneath one of the street lamps that reminded me of 18th century London, and opened up the Strategy Guide I'd picked up. It was really more of a thick pamphlet than a real book, but I liked it that way; meant it was more concise.

I learned some interesting things from those first few chapters.

It didn't really elaborate grandly on the lore of Aincrad, but it did tell me what the recruits were.

We, the players, were an army that was supposed to bring back the Golden days, when every floor had been connected by portal. Why the portals had been shut down was unknown to the author, and apparently the answer varied from place to place, but one thing was certain: the demons and beasts that now haunted the Pillars of Strength – the pillars that stopped the whole castle from collapsing and known to us players as Dungeons - were responsible or at least a product of it.

To this city we were the hope of a new Golden Age, freedom fighters if you will. Speaking of fighting, it looked like not using _Sword Skills_ made your weapon deteriorate a bit faster.

Seeing as I'd used it that way a lot more than necessary and it being the cheapest model out there it having fallen out of use within one day suddenly made a whole lot more sense.

On top of that you didn't need to stand in that stance specifically to activate your _Sword Skill_, all you needed to do was get your arm in the correct position – at least for the simpler skills. That meant I could move whilst getting ready to attack and had I known this yesterday it could have maybe saved me from acquiring these scars. Pleasant thought, but then hindsight was always 20/20.

Also found out that tailors and armories used the skins – when in certain amounts – and made you something from it, say a pair of boots or gloves. Special deals, set deals even, depending on the tailor; something to look into, because hell if that wasn't a profitable venture.

It mentioned that NPC's were also quite useful as sources of information, though that information may not always be correct. That was something every gamer knew, but it was good to have it confirmed again.

I shut the book as a story began to take form, and started to move towards the Northern Gate.

It was time to see how good Kayaba had made these AI.

* * *

The trek back to it was a lot quicker now that I wasn't going in random shops anymore and soon enough I was standing in front of those grand oaken doors. They were open, seeing as it was still light.

I went through them, and found the two men that had moved me when I myself was not capable of the act.

Both were leaning on their spears, obviously bored out of their minds. I decided I'd relieve them of their boredom.

"So, you guy's up for that story?"

Both startled a little, Gulliver almost dropping his spear. Two pair of blue eyes turned to me, and recognition lit up in them.

"Ah, it's you!" came Trennan's voice.

"Good eye there Casanova, it is I."

Gulliver's lips twitched, " You look better, sleep well?"

" Like a block. I didn't even notice the state of my sleeping arrangement until I woke up."

Interest was piqued, "Where'd you hole up at?"

I answered, "Right where you left me."

Trennan looked annoyed, "You said you could get to an inn fine."

A smirk formed on my face, "I lied."

"Oh well, your loss. Mattresses here might not be royal or anything fancy, but they sure beat cobble stones."

" That I'll believe."

The tall man leaned back, "Well, you didn't come here to talk to us about beds, of all things. Boring subject if they don't involve women."

" Truer words have rarely been spoken, " said Gulliver, " So how about you spice things up stranger and tell us your story."

Blonde brows furrowed, "Right after you tell us your name, can't keep calling you stranger, now can we?"

"Name's Ray," and I shook both of their hands.

Trennan smiled, "Well Ray, formalities are out of the way. Time to tell us your tale of bravery!"

I barked a laugh, "Tale of bravery indeed. So, you guys have probably already guessed that I'm a recruit right?" Both nodded.

I looked to the tower, which in all honesty didn't look all that intimidating.

"I joined the ranks because I want to go to the top, you've heard the myths of the splendor that's supposedly up there. But really, that's all myth and I don't really believe in myths. I thought the beasts outside going Feral was another one of those myths."

I snorted, "Now I know better of course, but at the time I didn't. A group of other recruits said I wouldn't dare; called me a coward and said I wasn't brave enough. I got angry, and went out to prove them wrong."

"It fine for a long while, I know Frenzy Boars like the back of my hands. Can fight 'em with my eyes closed. It was getting dark, but still I went out further and met something other than a boar.."

Gulliver grimaced, " It was a wolves, wasn't it?"

"A wolf, actually. I thought I'd take it down the same way as I had the boars. Not a smart move. I'll spare you the details, but it ended up with me almost losing my neck and me stabbing it in the heart." I pulled down my shirt to reveal my scar, " It left a present though."

"Son of bitch, that must have hurt!"

I looked at the tallest of us three, "Like no tomorrow. The sun was finally gone, and I just lay there panting. Howls suddenly pierced the air," I shuddered at the memory, " Yellow eyes in the distance turned red. Suddenly, I believed."

" I ran for my life, even more so when I found out the Boars had changed as well. One almost destroyed my blade. You know how the rest pans out."

Gulliver was looking at me, a frown on his face again," You do know how lucky you are, right? Wolves usually hunt in packs."

I grimaced at the reminder, "I know I was damn lucky. Had it been any different and I would be dead."

"But you're not, and that's what matters," came Trennans cheer as he slapped me on the back.

I smiled, "You're right. In part thanks to you guys, I know I said it yesterday but I'll say it again: Thank you."

"No problem Ray, it's our duty," came the Blonde's voice.

"Well, I got my own duty at the moment: got to cut down a few Boars for meat whilst it's still light."

Both looked at me in interest. "Already going out after yesterday's scare?"

"If I'm scared of these guys out there, how am I ever going to fair in that damned tower?"

"You got a point there," said Trennan whilst looking at the tower, " The others certainly can't say you ain't brave."

"Exactly. I'll see you guy's when I come back, maybe I'll have new story to tell." With a wave I moved on to the plains.

Anger was still there, but it was simmering far in the background. I was amazed and astounded at the capabilities of these NPC's.

Not only had they remembered me, but they'd actually held a god to honest conversation with me; nothing scripted about it. Each of them had a personality too, though how far that went was questionable. Point was, they were like secondary characters in a novel, 2 dimensional in a way but still possessing some sort of individual trait.

I had felt like I had been talking to people, and my fabricated lie – I had always been the one to smooth talk us out of trouble back in middle school – had gone off without a hitch. Well lie was a big word, half-truth was a better term.

Seriously, I believed that not going out on the plains because of yesterday was kind of stupid. As I'd said these were level 1-3 creatures, the tower housed monsters that were a whole lot stronger. If I was afraid of these things I had no business going anywhere near that cylindrical structure and I refused to back down without trying.

I was going to get to the top, beat the crap out of Kayaba and then wake up in my world.

That was the basic outline of my road; I had a point A and point B. The rest would come, and the first item on that list was the boar grazing some 20 feet ahead of me.

Sure, I might die somewhere between destinations, but it sure as hell wouldn't be to a fucking level 1 creature. Determination filled me and blue light trailed behind me; it was time to test out that new sword.

* * *

**AN: **Well here is the second Chapter of Durability which took a long while to write simply because I couldn't get the last part right. Anyhow it's out and that's what matters, next chapter will come after I've updated Responsibility, which is about 30% done as far as pure writing goes and about 90% planned out. Concrit is welcome.

Cheers,

S.K.


	3. Numalba

_Numalba_

_\- "The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness." _

_\- John Muir_

There is something to be said for routine, and that is that it is easy to fall into. One might even say that it is an integral part of human nature. We always say we want to escape the mundane drone that is our lives, but when change throws our lifestyle into chaos we cling to any kind of order we can create. Routine, if anything, is ordered and safe. The last two days had been exactly that, safe and ordered.

I entered random shops, either got a quest or some useful tidbit of information, and went out to complete the quest. The quests varied; most of the time I had to go out to the plains and get the required materials; other times I had to go from shop to shop as a messenger or glorified post-boy, and whilst not the most exciting or EXP-rewarding they fleshed out my knowledge of what was where.

On my third day here I'd been on one such quest, and was on my way back to the correct part of town when I passed the largest building I had so far come across.

It was situated on the north side the grand plaza we had all spawned on the first day. It was a large rectangular castle with rounded roofs, spires and even a small moat. The building was made of a glossy dark colored stone or metal which reflected the sunlight sharply. High walls, though still no comparison to the city walls, surrounded it. All together it made for an imposing sight that shouldn't be all that hard to miss and yet it was only on my third day here that I found it.

I knew what it was though, even before the blue sign popped up announcing what it was. See, by then I'd read the guide from cover to cover and only one such a building had been mentioned in it; The Black Iron Palace, which housed the Room of Resurrection.

I was curious if that grand room was still there now that re-spawning was no longer an option. I entered through the large doors and found myself in the entrance hall, which was huge and probably went on to the rest of the castle. Gothic style pillars held up the second floor, strong and made of the same material as the outside. I touched one and found that the texture, which was very smooth, reminded me marble.

Light streamed in in beams through small round windows. No benches occupied the hall and as such the beams all hit the floor, illuminating a painting of Aincrad itself in all its floating glory, which could also be found on the flat ceiling which doubled as the floor for the Resurrection room, if I was any guess. Truly the interior of the building reminded me more of church than of a castle, especially since it was occupied by a quiet that shouldn't be disturbed. The only sound inside were my footsteps and my breathing; there was no BGM here.

To my right, behind one of the large doors was a stair case. I climbed it and 70 steps later I stood in front of the Room of Resurrection. This room reminded me even more of a church, with colored mosaic in the round windows, creating a rainbow of light as it streamed down. The domed ceiling was covered with symbols and drawings whose meaning I could not even begin pin down, though they looked very religious to me. What completed the room was the large slab of stone that stood in the center of the room, which must have been new as the guide hadn't mentioned it.

It was obsidian in color, a darker shade than the marble of the castle itself, and about 4 meters long and 2 meters high. Once I got close enough I saw that it was filled with writing, carved out elegantly in white.

At first I had thought it be part of some quest, a riddle of sorts but as I got closer I saw that it was no such thing. It was a list, one with the names of every player that had logged in on November the 6th.

They stood there in alphabetical order, but some names were crossed out. Next to the ones that were crossed out stood how that player had died.

It was a memorial stone, but I looked at it as a mass headstone seeing as the names of the living were on it as well. Kayaba was making a statement with this, of that I was certain, and I took that statement to be that he was certain we were all going to die.

Above the list stood the words, _Seimei no Ishibumi_, or Monument of Life. I found that insulting, it was celebrating all of those who were still alive, and condemned those who had fallen by crossing them out.

Those crossed out names, which weren't even the people's real names, looked like items that were crossed out on a shopping list and that their way of death had been the price, so to speak.

It was sickening, and a profound sadness filled me as I looked at it. I must have at least stood there for an hour, going over each of the 214 names that were crossed out and committing them to memory. These were Kayaba's first victims, and keeping the level curve in mind, not the last.

These people, their unnecessary deaths, needed to be avenged. If I had been driven to get to the top before this steeled my resolve into an indomitable will. I hadn't known any of these people, but I – no, all of us – owed it to them to beat this game. _That_ was a promise I'd keep till the moment I died.

I'd walked away, and when I stood once more at the entrance of the former Room of Resurrection I'd paid my respects once more and resolved to come back again; these people deserved that much respect.

I had no such regard for the life of the wolf in front of me, the last one of its pack of three. This pack had been the first mob of Wolves I'd dared to clash with after my fateful encounter with a loner that first night in Aincrad. So far it had gone off without so much as a hitch.

I was now a proud level 4 player and the level 2 creature didn't stand a chance. I'd come a long way from the angry and scared person I'd been that first night. I no longer just swung my sword around, hoping for a hit but was calm and calculated.

I parried when needed and that was the only time I used my blade outside of Sword Skills as I didn't want this sword to end up in the same banged up state as my first had. Still, I'd check out the durability of my new blade to be sure after this battle, because keeping it in prime shape was important.

I dodged as the beast lunged and whilst turning raised my dark grey weapon and with my favorite move cut it in the midriff, dealing it the final blow. The blue polygons fell down, but dissipated before touching the green grass that rolled over these hills.

Nothing was dropped and I sighed as this meant I had to go find another mob of the beasts. I needed slabs, ten of them to be exact, and fur, even if not the loot I needed, would have been welcome. I started to walk forward hoping to come across another pack, one bigger than just three.

The guide, in it its infinite wisdom, had told me that the wolves roamed the plains in groups of three to five confirming what Gulliver had said two days earlier, though there were always the odd ones out. In that sense I'd really had luck that first night.

In any case I was smart enough to know that more wolves meant a higher chance of drop. That was in essence the logic of grinding.

Hours upon hours wasted upon the purple brutes that were the Frenzy Boars had taught me that you had to more often than not massacre the lot in order to meet the requirement for when you had multiple orders. The boars avoided me like the plague now, seeing as I'd gained a status as butcher. Even at night when they were level three, and that was how the hunted became the hunter.

All of my skills had leveled up nicely: my _Night Vision_ and _Sprint_ were now at the lovely level of 10 whilst my _One-handed Sword_ skill rested at level 13. Not to mention that I was now the proud owner of Boar hide boots, and a whole lot of tusks that I had no particular use for as of yet.

At the moment I only had one quest open, for the pretty lady of the Hog. That brought my thoughts back to the capabilities of the NPC's that I interacted with.

She never remembered me and neither did Gertha for that matter, no matter how many quests I did the spark of recognition that Gulliver and Trenan had never appeared in their eyes.

I reasoned that was because they were merchants and some of the other players had started to take their quests as well, though only a rare few dared venture outside the city wall like me, most going for the courier-type quest. Still that was going to change all too soon, I'd felt the unrest in the air. It was why I was going to go on to the next town today.

It was an easy decision to make too, seeing as the plains would filled with people and whilst the re-spawn rate for the boars and wolves was high, there were more than 9,000 people confined in those walls. I doubted that the boars and wolves re-spawned fast enough for even a third of that, and fights over the spawns were bound to happen.

Besides it wasn't as if there was anything in specific that I'd miss. Sure, Gulliver and Trenan were nice guys as far as NPC went, and were some of the smarter AI in the city as far as I knew, but even they had their limits.

They had three rehearsed stories and I'd heard them all multiple times, told almost in exactly the same way. The only time they deviated from that set script was when I brought up my own stories or opinions though sometimes that went over their heads. It was almost sad that that was the extent of my conversation these last few days.

It looked at my clock and found that it was 2 PM meaning that If I played this right I could get going around 3.

I hummed along with the BGM as I started a sprint to the four wolves a ways away, downwind as luck would have it. Seeing as I was made of code and didn't sweat I really had to wonder if they could even smell me, but by that point it was mainly arbitrary.

Still humming I carved up my first target, shattering it like glass with my raised STR stat. I Jumped over the one that lunged at me with my AGI stat, which was on par with the STR stat at 7. I blocked the thirds lunge, making it whine as my blade cut into the fur of its face doing some minimal damage. By that point the three second cool down for my moves had most certainly passed and the fourth one was downed like the first.

Both of them growled as I kept up the catchy tune, counted to three and attacked as neither of them would. I shot forward, my _Horizontal_ cutting the one on the left and as the system let me go I didn't even have to turn around to activate _Slant_, this time cutting from the bottom up. See Slant was my favorite because you could cut both ways, whilst with Horizontal you didn't have that option.

The polygons hadn't even begun to dissipate yet when I struck the last wolf with a Horizontal, Critting it as I stabbed it in area around the heart.

It too turned into bleu particles and with a thump a patch of grey fur was left behind as the summary of the battle popped up. I looked at my EXP bar and found that I had 20% of the required amount. Steadily but surely I was making my way to level 5, which I was sure I'd reach by the end of the day.

* * *

It was 2:50 when I got the tenth slab, having just killed a loner. Those loners were the most vicious of the lot I'd found, but only a group of five gave me a challenge. One group had even managed to actually do me some damage, and I was really glad to have bought those arm braces because I was quite certain that I would have had another set of bite marks in my arm were it not for them.

I checked my sword and found that it's durability was at 87%, meaning that I still had 7% to go before repairing it was even necessary in my opinion. It would be cheaper to do it now though, that was true. Yes, with money gained from the quest I'd invest in bringing my blade back into its pristine state. I'd also check out if I had enough Wolf fur to get myself another sweet deal at one of the tailors in town.

I jogged back to the West gate, loving the _Sprint_ skill to death. I waved to the two guards I considered good acquaintances, maybe even friends. I moved through the cobble stone streets with purpose, saved myself three minutes by going through the Teleport Gate Plaza, and made from the gate to Hog's in 15 minutes.

I entered the small shop, and waved nonchalantly to the pretty NPC manning the counter. Opened up the trade window, sent her the ten slabs of wolf meat and said, "Here you go."

Rose, as I had found out she was called, smiled and inclined her head, "Thanks." The quest completion notification popped up, and I grinned at the cash I received because whilst not a novel amount it was plenty enough to repair 13% of damage.

"Alright I'll be seeing you, Rose" and with that I left the shop, and went back the way I came. Finding a forgery wasn't all that hard, considering the noise and smell tipped you off. Besides, I knew where some of them were.

The forgery I entered was adjacent to the shop I'd bought my blade at, and it looked like the two places were family owned as this man was without a doubt related to the shop owner that had sold me my weapon. Not that the man'd remember me, but I didn't really need him to.

"How can I help you?" rumbled the heavily bearded man who had hair on his head as well, unlike the man that wouldn't remember me.

I offered him my sword , "If you could repair my sword that'd be great."

"Sure can," and he immediately went to work. Five hammer strikes later my blade flashed a dull red, and that was that. It was in no way as intense as forging would have been in real life, or as time consuming.

It was a reminder that whilst all very realistic, this was without a doubt a game. I paid the man his due, nodded to him, and walked out.

The time was 3:25 and I had one more thing to do before I hightailed it out of this city and the adjacent plains. The wolves and boars no longer yielded me an interesting amount of EXP, unless I'd start to hunt the wolves at night but I was reluctant to do so.

If the level three of the boars was any indication the wolves would gain two levels as well, making them come on par with me. That wasn't very worrying when it was a loner, but a pack of five level 4 monsters wasn't exactly in my comfort zone yet. I'd of course try it out if they were in the vicinity of my new destination but as soon as the battle went south I'd run back to said town; I had no intention of gaining any new scars.

But talking of destination, I had to decide where to go. I opened up my map and looked at it.

I had two options, one closer than the other. The closest village, Horunka, was to the west, near the border of the grand pine forest you could see from the plains. The other was to the east, next to the lake. This village was called Numalba, and it was surrounded by a sparse layer of forest, which was why you didn't see the aforementioned lake from the plains.

I entered a tailor shop as I was turning my options over in my head. Numalba might be farther away from Starting city, but it was a lot closer to one of the next towns, which were found in the mountains.

I decided that I'd rather travel a lot in the easy part of the terrain than a lot in the mountainous area, where the monsters were a significantly higher level. In the end that was the safer option, and I liked safe.

That decided I gave the NPC my time of day, and asked if he had any deals with Wolf skins. He did, as luck would have it. I had ten skins, which was exactly enough for the two shoulder pads. A quarter of an hour and 25 col later I exited the shop, the pads sitting comfortably on my shoulders.

Going out the east gate would have been the smarter thing to do, would conserve time, but I wanted to say goodbye to the two guards in the west. Besides cutting diagonally wouldn't add all that much time, certainly not if I sprinted. The extra EXP of the monsters I'd encounter was another reason it wasn't such a bad idea.

I jogged back to the West Gate and as I arrived I was surprised to hear Trenan say to Gulliver, "Pay up, told you he'd come back within the hour." That was most definitely new.

" Am I that predictable?" I asked.

The tall guard grinned as he replied, "Yes."

I raised an eyebrow, "You know what I'm going to do next then I take it?"

"Yes," he nodded confidently, " you'll go out onto the plains to get more meat for that girl at Hog's, who you totally dig by the way. So, when are you going to ask her out? "

The look that covered my face must have been a damn funny one, as I was completely floored by that comment. Not that it was true in any way, but more by the fact that a) he'd remembered that I'd mentioned her before and b) wondering if that was actually possible.

I doubted it, seeing as most NPC were fixed to a certain position, and moving them forcibly got you shocked; the harder you tried, the greater the shock if the guide book was to be believed. For all intents and purposes every player had a restraining order regarding NPC's, one that was forcibly executed no less.

"Never," I said regaining my equilibrium, " I'm being re-stationed to Numalba as of today. Will be the last time I'll see Starting City for a while. "

Gulliver nodded, not as surprised as Trenan, "Thought that might happen, the higher ups really want the pathways between the South and the North cleared up. No one has any real idea how bad it's up North by the Tempana Ridge, let alone past it. "

"Exactly, might call me a scout." I looked at the less serious of the two, "You getting all this?"

Trenan glared lightly at me, " I understand why you are being stationed at Numalba. The dream that is the Golden Age, and all that. No, what I don't get is why you're never going to go for that cute girl butcher's girl. At least give it a try, I mean girls dig recruits!"

It was really amazing that he was almost human when the topic was women, showing off that he had more than scripted replies.

Gulliver answered for me, "Because he didn't sign up to the recruits for the attention of the female eyes. Besides she doesn't even know his name, if you remember."

Blue eyes locked with my grey ones, "Then make sure she does."

"No can do, Trenan. Even I'd wanted to, " I raised my hand to stop him from interrupting, " which I don't, there's no time for it. Already stretching time as it is by being here at the west gate."

"Fair enough. I really can't persuade you otherwise?"

I shook my head.

He sighed and looked at me and Gulliver with a crooked smile, " I swear one of these days I'll make you two do more than just watching the female gender. " He raised a fist, "You'll see Ray, when you come back I'll have made a man out of this blonde here!"

I laughed, and the blonde on my right chuckled. "We'll hold you to that!"

Our laughter died and all jokes were gone, " Well, it's time I head out east."

They looked at each other and nodded. Trenan came forward and held out his hand. We shook and he said, "I'll miss you Ray, the days will be boring without you here. "

"I'll miss you too, Trenan."

Next me and Gulliver shook hands, and he smiled. I nodded in the direction of the taller guard and said, "Keep this idiot in line, will you?"

The blonde grinned, "Will do, and you keep yourself in line. Now go, can't be late on your new post the first day."

"Thanks, guys!" and with that I was off.

At first I was just jogging, but as soon as I passed my first hill, and saw a Frenzy Boar run away, I started to run. The sun was shining, the sky a vibrant blue and rolling hills for quite a while. The wind was blowing west, and I grinned as I felt it caress my cheeks.

I whooped as I sped across the grass. Whatever you wanted to say about Kayaba Akihiko, who surely had a psychotic urge buried beneath that cold and collected exterior, you could not deny that the man had an eye for aesthetics. I hated the him yes, and wanted to hate this world – his world - but after the goodbye's to the two guards and the beautiful view that surrounded me I couldn't say I did.

For a time I forgot that I was stuck in a death game, and I just enjoyed the world around me and the speed and power that the game mechanics gave me in battle. Right then I was a 17 year old enjoying the first real Virtual World ever, as should have been the case all along.

* * *

An hour had passed and I was no longer running, now strolling across the winding dirt road that went straight to Numelba. The scenery had changed slightly, the land had flattened out a bit and instead of grass there was a grain of some sort on either side of the road. Every so often a house would pop up, though I had as of yet to see people. The BGM had changed as well, though the tune was still medieval in nature.

It had been 20 minutes since I'd last seen a monster, and I was kind of glad for the reprieve. Suddenly a slight buzzing sound entered my ears, and purely out of habit my right hand went to my right pocket, where my phone would have been. It wasn't there of course and I ducked as the buzzing was right behind me, a lot louder than before. With big eyes I watched as two mandibles, each about the size my pinky, pass right where my neck would have been.

My eyes stayed wide and whispered, "You got to be fucking kidding me!" Right there, hovering in the air, was a huge wasp. As in it was almost as long as my legs.

It's red eyes didn't look happy in the least, and it's mandibles clicked angrily. Buzzing, in a different pattern entered my hearing from my left, I rolled away and I whimpered as I saw the large stinger being pulled back out of the ground. The hole in the road did nothing to alleviate my worries.

It joined its brother in hovering, and a third one came from behind them.

They were brown in color, not at all the yellow you'd expect, covered in sharp, angry green lines. Their stingers were huge bulbs twice the size of my head with the tips which were sharp as could be and about the size of ice picks. Two wings flapped angrily behind each of them, generating the buzzing that had allowed me to dodge the attacks.

The words '_Wind Wasp_, level 3' floated above them, mocking me.

I suddenly went right back to hating the world I was stuck in, and I cursed Kayaba to the deepest depths of hell. Out of all the creatures that he had to enlarge, it had to be the one I was allergic to and thus had a phobia for! Jezus Christ, the small ones I could crush with my finger already made me run to safety so that I not bloat up. I'd had that happen to me once, it wasn't fun.

So far the game had been biologically accurate, almost insanely so and I prayed to all the gods out there that that little genetic defect I possessed had not entered the game.

With a shaky breath I stood up and looked at my enemies. I gulped, remembering again how aggressive these fuckers were when smaller than my finger. Now that they came up to my hip, they were a serious threat.

The two floating at the sides of the middle one shot forward, mandibles ready to bite whatever flesh was exposed.

_Fast!_

I stumbled back, fumbled with my sword failed to get it out of its scabbard with how hands were shaking and just rolled out of the way. The third one came at me with its stinger, aimed at my face and too close for comfort already. Eyes wide I did the first thing that occurred to me: I jumped. My left foot hit right in the face, doing it some damage and sending it tumbling to the ground.

I pulled out my sword and just managed to keep two mandibles at bay, scraping against the dark grey metal. Great red eyes looked into my grey ones, which were filled with honest to god fear. It's antennae brushed against my head and I couldn't suppress the shudder that wracked through my body. Had SAO had the option of peeing, I would have soiled myself right then and there.

With force I pushed it away, only for another one to immediately take it place. I was in the process of pushing this one back when my back erupted into pain. I screamed as the stinger entered and was then viciously pulled out.

I had completely forgotten about the third one, and it cost me. It cost me dearly as my body refused to move an inch. The little thunder mark that flashed next to my HP bar explained why; I was paralyzed.

The other two wasps shot forward and bit in my arms, making my HP drop a 10th, now standing at 265/350.

The third one shot towards me again, also striking to bite me. Luckily the symbol disappeared and my muscles responded to my brain's panicked urges. I whirled around to face it, stepped to the right whilst activating _Slant_, and cut it right beside the head. It was a critical hit, and relief flooded me as it burst into glowing particles. The hit to its head earlier had probably contributed as well.

Finally, one of these hellish creatures was down.

The very angry clicking behind me reminded me that there were still two that weren't beaten. They sounded mighty pissed off. I gulped. Even if I was panicking a lot less now that I'd downed one I was still a far cry away from the calm and collected guy that had taken down wolves without so much a worry.

The one on the left raised it stinger with apparent effort, looking almost like it were doing a sit up. The other shot forward, body straight and mandibles open. What happened next was really quite odd.

The one with the stinger extended should have been slower than the one whose body was flat and as such much more aerodynamic, not to mention that it had a head start, but it was instead the other way around. Green light followed the wasp who looked ready to skewer me, and I just accepted that the skill it was obviously using was responsible for breaking the laws of physics.

I stepped to the left of it and activated my Horizontal, and just like I had redirected the tusk of that level three Frenzy boar, so I did the stinger of this _Wind Wasp_.

The System calculated it as a perfect block on part of both sides and neither me nor the wasp gained any damage. Both of the wasps were now behind me, though the one that wanted to bite me was coming forward again, body straight.

That was ignorable though, and I counted whilst I kept my eye on the other wasp. It was just hovering in the air, and it was only when I reached five that the speed of its wings increased. That meant that that stinger skill had five second delay, one I would capitalize on the next it was used on me.

Meanwhile the biter, as I had dubbed it, found no purchase with its mouth I jogged to the right of it and executed a slant form the top up that threw it down on the ground with thump. My left foot pinned it down, and a second later I executed it with the same move that had thrown it onto the road.

Angry clicking was coming closer, but I was ready and hit it right in the face with only my blade, no skill activated whatsoever. It veered off course, a small amount of damage done to it, but its new position was exactly where I needed it to be. Swiftly I activated Horizontal, ready to skewer it in turn.

The Wind Wasp dodged, which was a calculated risk, and it bit me in the shoulder as the system had yet to let me go and that was what it was the closest too. The damage was entirely ignorable, though the feeling was uncomfortable.

The System let me go and I unleashed slant from the bottom up as it veered to the right, it clipped it's wings. The HP that drained from the creature was minimal but seeing it sag to the left, that wing not working properly anymore, gave me a very satisfied feeling. It no longer had the mobility to dodge my Horizontal and with an eerie shriek it burst into green polygons.

The conclusion of the battle popped up and I sighed, my shoulders sagging in relief. I looked what that short but crazily scary fight had given me. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it each wasp gave me twice as much EXP as a wolf.

I'd face them again if I had to, the EXP certainly worth it, but if I didn't I have to…well, I wouldn't mind that in the least. Mostly I was just glad I wasn't allergic to these _Wind Wasps_. Another thing that gladdened me was that I hadn't gained any new scars, seeing as the feeling of salt and alcohol being poured over the wounds had not plagued me. Odd, really…maybe it only happened when my health reached the halfway point?

I shook my head, pushing away those speculations for a later date. The answer, I was sure, would come to me eventually; I wasn't so naïve as to believe that my HP would never sink so low.

Over the next hour I fought more than my fair share of bugs, each of which was larger than it had any right to be, interspersed with a few wolves every now and then. The scariest and meanest were still the Wind Wasps, though the _Bumbling Beetles_ took the longest to take down seeing as they had the most HP, the best defense and were level 4 creatures.

Half an hour in, after a particularly vicious fight where'd I'd completely spazzed out when two groups of wasps (they usually traveled in groups of three) had ambushed me I reached level 5. I got five points this time around, and I happily gave each stat one point.

I was already a quarter of on the way to level 6, and if I kept this up I'd be half way by the time I reached Nulmalba.

I wasn't currently fighting though, having just downed a _Bumbling Beetle_ a few minutes earlier, but I kept my eyes and ears peeled, ready for the another one since they seemed to live in these parts of the plains.

This part wasn't only different in that it housed different monsters either. It had taken me a while to notice but slowly but steadily the road was declining. Apparently the Lake was situated in a basin of sorts.

Another change was that the landscape that existed beside the road had once again become just grass, seeing as the closer I got to the forest the less inhabited it was.

I completely understood it too, because those bugs were creepy as hell. The creepiest of all being the level two _Wrestling Worm_ seeing as it was two meters long and just popped up from the ground whenever it wished, scaring the crap out of you.

Seriously, I'd rather face something had some kind of expression rather than just a blank wall of skin. Reminded me rather of Slender Man, and I'd decided immediately that I wouldn't go out here at night.

That beetle had apparently been the last effort of the plains to bar me from reaching Numalba, seeing as I reached the edge of the forest without further incident. The pine trees towered over me, casting the deep shadows in which I now stood.

As I entered the forest the BGM changed, becoming slower and quieter and if you listened real well you'd hear that it was in tandem with some of the birdsong. Or the birdsong was part of the BGM, but whatever the case it was very calming.

Bushes popped up every now and then, some had berries and some didn't. Interested I pulled one of the red things off and read it's description in order to see if they were edible.

_Cub Berry_

"A berry that _Bear Cubs_ in particular seem to like. It is sweet in taste, and is therefore often used as sweetener."

I plopped it in my mouth and the sweet taste, reminiscent of honey, that filled my mouth as the bleu-berry sized fruit burst made me smile. It was all too clear why the _Bear Cubs_ liked them so much. I grabbed a few more and continued walking, eating one every so often. I kept my eyes peeled for the so called _Bear Cubs_, glad to at least have an idea of what was in this forest.

I was under no illusion that if there were cubs, there would full grown mothers and fathers as well. A daunting prospect, seeing as bears in the real world were already dangerous enough. The point had to be made, though, that in this world I was assisted by the game's mechanics, giving me much more of a fighting chance.

My first ten minutes were peaceful, the animals that inhabited this expanse of forest showed no interest in me. On a few occasions I thought I'd spotted a few creatures scurrying up in the canopy. Some kind of squirrel if I was any guess.

It was as I followed another bend in the road that I saw my first opponent, and damn if it didn't creep the fuck out of me. It stood at a meter and a half, was a pale green color, and had a red grin that looked deranged. Roots wriggled below its elongated body, and two vines each ending in a vibrantly green leaf hung languidly next to it, swishing this way and that way. On top of its head (although there was no real distinction between head and body) rested a green sprouting. All in all it was a plant, one that strongly reminded me of a creepier version of Weepingbell. The guttural chattering didn't do it any favors in my books.

The cursor that floated above the plantly protrusion, however, did. It was a lighter red, not a pure pink as the Frenzy Boars back near Starting city, but it still indicated that the creature was weaker than me. To make things even better, it didn't seem to be all that fast on those twisting roots.

With that I walked on closer, intent on earning myself some EXP and reaching Numalba before it got dark. I was finally truly and well around the bend when it finally noticed me. It chattering turned into a kind, "yayaya", which I took to mean he liked the fact that he'd found 'prey'. It moved towards me and finally a name screen appeared above it; "Little Nepent".

Ah, so these creepy fucks were Nepents, that put a picture to a name I'd read in the guide. With a flick of the eyes I checked to make sure it didn't have a fruit dangling off its head. It, as noted before, didn't and I felt another bout of relief flow through me; traps were to be avoided at all costs.

With that I had no hesitation whatsoever in facing it and not ten seconds later the road was, once again, mine and mine alone. Although, not two minutes later I would meet another. I almost smirked when the thought, "Your Repel has worn off', flashed through my mind.

The _Little Nepents,_ as it turned out didn't have a lot of maneuverability as far as their body go, but it's appendages were an entirely different matter. Those arms were fast, and the leaves sharp. It was easy to deal with when it was one, but in numbers it would be a slaughter. Suddenly the Guides warning of not engaging an "Eve" had gained actual meaning.

There were also what were called "Sakura", _Little Nepents_ with red flowers on their head. They, apparently, were an exceedingly rare specimen that had nice drops. What these drops were wasn't specified in the guide meaning that either the author wasn't keen on sharing or simply didn't know. I bet on the latter.

Half an hour in the path became a trail; small and annoyingly harder to follow. It also meant that I had to get in the thick of things. I can tell you that bramble bushes were just as much a pest here as back in the real world. I was half way through a big one when I immediately turned around and waded my way back as fast as I could. There had been a clearing behind it, but it looked to be occupied as the meeting spot for little Nepents; there had to be at least twenty!

I scowled as that was the way the trail (what was left of it) went. I opened up my map and scowled even deeper when it was mostly black except for the white dot that represented Numalba. It seemed whilst I had the grand picture, landscape had to be explored. Numalba was certainly a bit up North, but so were the freaky plants. Looked like I had to take a detour to the east and hope the place wasn't surrounded by Nepent spawn sports. If that was the case I'd have to chance it and just run like hell and hope for the best. Here was hoping we'd never have to get to that.

It didn't, although I did see a deer run around – a deer with four antlers. It ran like the wind once it saw me, so I never got close enough to find out what Kayaba had named it. Probably had good tasting meat and it's antlers were probably useful too – probably medicinal, like in the real world.

The landscape kept sloping downwards and the trees were lessening. Light, what little was left of it, streamed through the canopy, lighting up the forest floor. Was appealing and at some point I decided to follow the light instead of any 'path' that I could 'discern'. Turned out to be the best thing I did, because I found Numalba.

It was a sight to see and enjoy; wooden buildings – cabins, really – at a corner of a huge lake which sparkled in the evening sun. The sun itself sinking behind the mountains in the distance, and some leaves being tossed around in the last breeze of day. A peaceful and cozy image; a prime vacation destination, from the looks of it.

As I'd find out, looks can be deceiving.


	4. Fruits of Labor

Fruits of Labor

_\- "Of all the pleasures the fruit of labor is sweetest." _

_\- Luc de Clapiers_

From a distance it looked really pleasant; a pristine picture when caught together with the surrounding nature, but take away the enchanting background and suddenly it lost that sparkling look. The closer I got, the more I realized that it wasn't at all the little enchanting lake town I had envisioned. A large wall, comprised of sharpened logs surrounded the settlement, obscuring it from my view. Smaller stakes jutted out randomly, several of them covered in what could only be the blood of the forest monsters.

It was this that reminded me that just like Skyrim, Aincrad's first floor was a beautiful landscape, but the story of the land itself wasn't nearly as pretty. This land, too, was overrun by monsters, though I could only hope there wasn't an equally destructive civil war element to this world. Killing monsters was one thing, other people, even simulations (and technically _we_ were simulations too), was a totally different thing.

It was with those heavy thoughts that I arrived at the gate. A guard, whose armor was much less glamorous – not to mention more damaged - than the ones the guards in _Starting City_ had possessed, but still miles better than mine, put his hand on the handle of his broadsword and said: "Who are you and what's your business in Numalba?" His voice was gruff, and it held no kindness; only suspicion. His large square face, marred by a scar that traveled across the bridge of his nose and his thin lips, was just as distrusting.

"My name is Ray, and I'm a Recruit arriving from _Starting City_."

He looked me up and down twice, and apparently satisfied with what he saw, let his hand drop. He smiled thinly, "Good, we could really use the help. Of course, three years ago would have been better. Anyhow, go on in."

"Thanks," I said and with that I hurried on in, because the look of resentment he was shooting me wasn't a particularly fun thing to be subjected to. At least I'd gotten some new information, as apparently three years ago was when the portals failed and everything went to hell, or at least for Numalba.

I was now inside the town and, as I had seen from a higher vantage point, it was made up of cabins, but they were not at all prime vacation spots; old and ramshackle was more like it. They might have been once, but time, the elements, and monsters had certainly done a number on them. Some were abandoned, nailed shut and left to rot whilst others were being torn down, the materials they were comprised of being put to a better use. The ones in use looked better, some of them even looked brand new, though these were few and far in between.

The reactions of the NPC varied; a few smiled at my added presence, most shot me dirty looks, and one kid even tried to pickpocket me. I put the kid at about age 10, with black hair and equally dark eyes. That was all I really got from him, catching him in the middle of the act, causing him to scamper off.

Even from a distance I could make out that his clothes, whilst not exactly rags – they'd obviously seen better days – were certainly on their way to becoming them. They were worn, that was the word I was looking for, and so it was the case for most of the NPCs, though the extent varied from person to person.

Wandering around, I eventually ended up by the pier, which also fulfilled the duty of small market place – selling mostly fish – and a small dock, a few boats anchored right there. A really nice smell wafted up to me and I followed it eagerly, suddenly quite aware that I was actually really damn hungry. It wasn't much of a surprise seeing as the last thing I'd eaten had been the _Cub Berries_ – and before that only a piece of bread and an apple – meaning that in the 2 hours that I'd travelled and fought I hadn't quite eaten my fill.

Various merchants called out to me, one man selling rods, but I followed my nose and soon I found myself in front of a stall, the closest to the actual pier and one of the smallest ones. It was from here that the delicious and slightly familiar smell came from. It was slightly familiar because the snack that he sold was the in-game version of Shioyaki, a salty sea bream on a stick, which I'd enjoyed many a time at festivals. It wasn't Takoyaki, my favorite festival food, but Shioyaki came a close second.

Of course in Aincrad, it was another fish (especially seeing as mackerel were salt water fish and we stood next to a lake) but the basic principle was the same, and it smelled equally as good. So without further ado, I bought two bleu perches on a stick, paying the entirely forgettable fisherman 14 Col.

With nothing better to do, I decided to sit down at the end of the pier and watch the sun set, seeing as it was already seven o'clock. Mouth actually watering, the system exaggerating my emotions and actions, I started in on my snack. With the first bite I closed my eyes in happiness, because this was even better than the Shioyaki I was used to. This was probably due to the fact that these blue perches were less salty by nature, which made them more delicious to my mind. I gorged the two of them down in record time and contemplated buying a third, but decided against it, because I'd eat my dinner in an hour or so anyway.

No longer practically starving, I sat there, feet dangling above the water. I got bored of the sun soon enough, even if the calm and somewhat depressing BGM added to the beautiful image and I decided to see if the Guide had anything on Numalba.

As it turned out, it did.

"_A small fishing and logging town, its foremost trade is in fish and wood. Whilst the smallest of the bigger settlements, about half as big as Horunka, it is the biggest and most wealthy out east due to its central placement between the Tempana Ridge, where the ore mines are, and Starting City. It is also the first place a player can buy rods and start training the Fishing Skill, though it is rumored that one of the smaller towns that surround Numalba's lake has the best rods this early in the game. By far the most convenient thing about Numalba, though, is that for a reasonable fare, one can take a 'ferry' to one of the surrounding villages, which is a much faster way of travel than your own two feet." _

I raised both eyebrows at that little gem of information. I looked upon the little boats docked here with a renewed interest and respect. I was pretty sure that it wasn't immediately available, only unlocked after completing a certain quest for a certain NPC. Actually, I bet that every boat - there were a grand total of 5 - would only go to one place and one place alone, meaning that in order to travel to the next village, you had to complete a different quest for a different person; a line of successive quests needed in order to progress forward.

"_As far as hunting goes, both Horunka and Numalba have large amounts of Little Nepents in the surrounding forests. In fact, the only difference between the forests is that the ones in the west contain 'Living Oak' and other monsters like it, whilst the east has more Fauna based monsters such as Bears. Level wise it is roughly the same." _

There were probably pros to going to Horunka first as well, of that I was sure, but I'd chosen to go to Numalba and all considered I was content with that decision. Sure, the place wasn't exactly cheerful – the loss of the economic wealth the Guide had mentioned an obvious factor to this – but hell if it wasn't a convenient place to be.

The sun had well and truly set behind the mountain range, behind the outer walls of Aincrad if you wanted to get specific, not a single ray left to see and night was starting to fall. The clock showed that it was 7:35, and many of the merchants had already packed up and left, one of them being the man I had bought my delicious fish from. For them it was time to return home to a family and enjoy dinner together, I on the other hand didn't have that as an option. I wouldn't for a long time, and just like that my good mood evaporated.

With a lot less curiosity and passion, I went in search for an Inn, and within ten minutes I'd found the only one in Numalba. It wasn't a particularly grand building, two stories tall and not very wide or long but the inside of The Angler Inn was a lot more filled and cozy than the Goblet had ever been.

A merry fire crackled in the hearth, and the hubbub of conversation mingled nicely with the happier tune of the new BGM. The clientele, as far as I could tell, consisted mostly of bearded fishermen, and women were scarce. I think I saw maybe three, at most. Still, the camaraderie these people all so clearly shared was another stab at how alone I was in this world.

With a heavy brow and slow steps, I made my way forward to the bar, because I wasn't hungry yet and I wondered if I could even get hungry given the mood I was in. I looked up at the blackboard upon which my choices of beverage, and food if I felt like it, were to be found.

It was barely any contest at all as to what I would drink; I ordered a glass of the second most expensive drink, a _Chestnut Bear_. The barkeep, a man with a bushy mustache and a sharp nose looked at me with green eyes that simply shouted that he thought I was way too young. He was about to open his mouth and actually say it out loud, but I glared at him with all I had and with a swipe of my fingers made the transaction of 30 Col. With an audible click, his mouth shut into a firm line and he nodded and brought me my beverage.

It was a light brown in color and it truly did smell of nuts. Without so much a thank you to his, "Here you go, sir", I took a swig. I don't think I'd ever tasted a chestnut before, but the beverage was actually really smooth and relatively sweet for what I assumed was the whiskey of this world. So I sat for the next forty minutes, quietly sipping my tasty alcoholic beverage whilst becoming one with the background noise.

My mind was nowhere and everywhere, going from random thought to happy family filled memory. A slight buzz, what I got from about five beers (I could really take my alcohol), was what filled my head alongside them and it simply wasn't enough. No, I planned on getting drunk, like we all had at that Halloween party last year, to drown this immense feeling of homesickness and loneliness.

I looked at the last of my beverage and thought deeply about how to get drunk in this game, because obviously going at it like I was now wasn't cutting it. Suddenly, something that the Guide had mentioned came to the forefront of my mind: the _Ethics Off_ button. It is what would allow for more than a casual touch, for example kissing and probably doing the deed, without shocking your partner into oblivion. It being off would also allow smoking, so why not becoming intoxicated?

It took me a while to find the darn thing, it being quite well hidden, but with tenacity and a little help from the Guide, the Ethics Code was off and I drank the last of my almost empty glass. With a small smirk, I ordered another from the stern barkeep. This one I drank a lot faster, and hoping that the so far biologically accurate game would take my empty stomach into account and get me even more drunk. Ten minutes passed, and all I felt was a slight increase in the buzz; that was it.

My eyebrows furrowed and I felt the urge to throw the empty glass I was still holding in my hand on the floor, but I quenched it and put it back on the bar where it belonged. It seemed that the NerveGear could do a lot, but getting you drunk was, sadly, not one of them. Or perhaps it could, but only with large quantities of alcoholic beverages, and seeing as this was the Whiskey of this world, it would take quite a bit to get drunk. I'd already paid 60 Col, wasting another 30 for no change whatsoever felt like a huge waste, even if the drink was actually really tasty. Suddenly, with a large rumble my stomach showed off one of those things the NerveGear _could_ accomplish.

Good man that I am, and I heeded its call, ordered something called a _Boiled Brew_ and went to sit at a table that kept some distance between me and the rest of the patrons, seeing as I had no interest in socializing just yet. I'd ordered this particular meal because the name had called out to me, just like the name _Chestnut Bear_ had, and I was anxious to see if this would be as much to my taste as the last two things I'd consumed in this town had been.

Within moments, a deep steaming bowl of a brown broth, next to which lay a few slices of bread, sat in front of me. I saw chunks of vegetables, potatoes, and what could only be some kind of meat floating about in it. It looked very filling, the smell wasn't too bad, and if anything, it reminded me slightly of chili except you know…a little more watery.

I shrugged and dug right on in, dipping the bread into it. It soaked it right up and I had my first taste; it wasn't bad, but way too salty if you asked me, though I had to admit it did suit the dish. The chunks of what I had first thought to be meat turned out to be fish and as I'd predicted, once the bowl was empty I was ready to burst.

No longer hungry, warmed by the fire even this far away from it, and still ever so slightly buzzed, I found that I was actually very drowsy and ready to go to sleep; hiking and fighting all day will tire you out like nobody's business. I called the Bar Keep, whose name I had gleaned over the past hour: "Hey Mr. Bernier, can I have your cheapest room for the next three nights?"

The older man replied with sigh. "I'm sorry were booked for the week, the last room available was taken yesterday, but you're a recruit right?"

I answered, "Yeah", but I thought something more along the lines of: _'First the bar provides me with alcoholic beverages that don't get me drunk and now he can't offer me a room? What kind of Inn is this and how in the hell is this place full! I'm probably the first and only player here!'_

"Well, that means the barracks out by the eastern wall have to offer you a place, for a small fee, of course."

This put a stop to the rant I was holding in my head and I blinked at the solid logic this provided me with; you, the player, are a recruit, so of course you have to be inducted by this world's army. This was the game's way of telling me to follow the damn plot.

"Ah," I put my hands on the sturdy wooden table and stood up, "Thanks for the info and the food." By the time I was through the door I heard, "Thank you for your patronage!" The change in temperature was startling as it was a cold November night and I shivered. My breath came out as a puff, and my eyes widened at the realism that the game just employed. Not wanting to find out if catching a cold while pixilated was possible, I walked towards the eastern wall at a brisk pace, passing through a small square where the tallest and broadest building I'd seen so far stood, the words 'Town Hall' carved out elegantly in the wood.

Not five minutes later, after passing more and more abandoned cottages, each showing more damage than the last, I stood in front of what could only be the Barracks. It was two stories high, about eight meters long and probably the same length across. In front of it was a small archery range, and next to it I thought I made out some scarecrow dummies that were no doubt long used to the touch of forged steel. I wondered if training there would help you raise your stats or help you improve you _Weapon Skill_ of choice.

I stifled a yawn, which brought my mind back on track to the quest of finding myself a bed. Opening the sturdy oaken doors (at least I thought it was oak, but I could be wrong) I entered the barracks and I felt the brunt of the chill that had held me whilst walking let go. Hurriedly I closed the doors, lest the cold return.

"Ah, back already, Boryn?" asked a familiar voice. I turned around, and sure enough there sat the guard that had almost drawn his broadsword earlier today. He looked just as surprised at seeing me as I was him, though this was only momentarily.

Dark, beady eyes narrowed and he said, "You're not Boryn. What _are_ you doing here?" His gruff voice had lost much of the civility that it had had not two seconds earlier. Man, this guy did _not_ like me.

"Looking for a place to stay since Angler Inn is full."

He sighed and muttered something darkly under his breath and then said, "Right, come along then." He led me up the stairs to the second floor and down the entirety of the hall, and finally opened the door on the left. It was completely bare except for a form lying by the right wall. "This is your abode; there are some cushions and bedrolls in the closet. Good night." With that the man promptly left.

The bedrolls he had mentioned were all equally thin and kind of itchy too, seeing as they were made of wool. The cushions, at least, offered more comfort, so seeing as for now it was only two occupants, I allowed myself the luxury of two. I undressed with the pressing of a button (a handy thing that would not have been wrong to have had back in the real world), lay down on the floor and immediately wished back for the crappy beds I'd slept on back in _Starting City_, a feat I had not thought possible. Sure, the mattresses sucked when compared to what I was used to back in the real world, but scratchy as they were, filled with hay, they were certainly softer than a wooden floor. Beggars couldn't be choosers, though, I supposed. Setting my alarm for 8 AM, I closed my eyes, ready for a long and somewhat uncomfortable night. In the end I needn't have worried, as I was out within seconds.

* * *

With a start, I shot awake, the loud chiming of a goddamn bell that was most certainly _not_ the already familiar ringing of my set alarm bringing me out my much valued sleep, not to mention a rather pleasant dream. I was already missing the embrace of a scantily clad Scarlett Johansson something fierce.

Blearily, I looked around trying to suss out the origin of the incessant noise, but all I found was that my roommate was in a similar state of early morning confusion, pulling his pillow over his head in a valiant attempt to tune out the noise and go back from whence he came. Apparently, even AI appreciated their rest, and I heard him groan when it didn't seem to help much, the bell chimes getting louder. The soft glow of morning entered through the window both of us had taken effort to avoid, illuminating the room somewhat. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the door slammed open, startling both of us, and a large man, comparable to the size the nerd's avatar had been back on the _Square of Beginning_, was standing in the opening swinging around the source of the noise.

A huge smile adorned his round face as he swung the bell from side to side. Sideburns à la lamb chops framed it, coming down from a bright red crown of hair. "Up and at 'em, recruits! Breakfast is downstairs and after that there's work to be done!" he shouted in his loud and brass voice with way to much cheer and enthusiasm; you could practically feel the man savoring our expressions.

Silently, my eyes followed him as he walked back into the hall, bell still tolling, but they stopped dead when they came to rest upon the numbers that floated in the corner of the screen: 6:05 AM. My roommate, seemingly also discovering just how early it was, literally stole the words right out of my mouth; "Motherfucker!"

Immediately following our outbursts we turned wide eyes on each other, sustaining whip lash in the process. I probably should have gotten the hint when Sideburns said 'recruits', which was basically NPC slang for player, but it seemed that he was not an NPC as I first had assumed. Really, though, I had to be forgiven for this slight because not only was it early in the morning – _two hours earlier! – _ but there was also the fact that inside buildings there were no cursors by which to identify, and the iconic armor that would have otherwise made obvious was in his inventory just like mine. To be totally honest, had he cursed in Japanese I probably would have thought a lot less of it but it was because he'd cursed in English just like I had – a habit I'd picked up from my cousins – that his being a player had become abundantly clear to me.

Whilst all that had been going through my head, I'd given him a once over: he had long blonde hair that reached his shoulder blades, bright green eyes, and an equally blonde Tony Stark style beard. His skin was slightly tanned – less than mine – but it gave credence to the fact that he'd been in Japan at least for a while. I pegged him to be a few years my senior and around my size, probably slightly bigger, but we'd only know that for sure when we were both standing.

"Well, I'll be damned!" he said, breaking the ice. "You're_ not_ an NPC!" Apparently he, too, had been following a similar train of thought. I tried to place his accent and the options of a Texan drawl, any kind of UK accent, the heavy Russian everyone has used at least once in their lives, and the Scandinavian lilt immediately fell away, but that still left many an option open. Eastern Europe wasn't very likely either, and skin tone alone filtered out a lot as well, so that meant that either he was from an American state whose accent I wasn't familiar with, or from some European country or other. I put my money on the last one.

"Nope, and neither are you," I said in English, "the name's Ray, by the way. You are?"

"The name's Trip Fantasia, but you can call me Trip, and damn am I glad to see that I'm not the only foreigner in this game. We Gaijin need to band together, you know? So, Ray, where are you from?" The blonde got up while he said this and, with a flash of light, was dressed.

His shirt was a lime green, probably to match his eyes, the gloves a pitch black and on his hip hung a small war hammer. It looked pretty damn awesome, suited him even, and I wondered what his avatar had looked like.

I decided that, as going back to sleep was not option – once I was awake, it was up and at 'em for me - it was a good idea to follow his lead and just get dressed. A second later and I was in my comfortable armor. I felt him judging me like I had him.

"My dad's from the states, Seattle to be precise, but due to his job we moved to Japan when I was, like two, so I've lived my whole life in Tokyo." I nodded my head towards the door, "Wanna go get breakfast, we can talk on the way there."

"Sure," Trip agreed, already moving towards the hall.

"Anyways," I continued, "where are you from?"

He smiled as we made our way down the steps, "I'm also an International kid. Originally Swiss, but spending my pre-teens in DC and my last high-school years in Shanghai kind of made me into a drifter who's practically at home anywhere."

I raised an eyebrow at that, "So, what called you to Japan then?"

"The language, mostly, but the added culture, great cuisine, and the fact I have an interest in anime and a slight yellow fever all contributed to the decision. I've been studying at Todai for two years now, well on my way towards my bachelors you know." He sighed, "But now, with a game that was supposed to be for relaxing going totally FUBAR, I doubt it'll happen."

I nodded in sympathy, "I know the feeling man; very close to finishing high school myself."

We'd been walking towards the sound of chatter and laughter, a much more pleasant sound than the bell. We arrived at the center of its origin, which turned out to be a mess hall. Around twenty or so guards were all eating breakfast and holding conversations of their own. We proceeded to stand in line, one that was thankfully rather short because we were the last to get down.

"The situation's not all bad, though, you know," said Trip whist he put some bread and some ham on his plate. "I mean, sure, the fucking psycho stuck us in here to play out some screwed up fantasy he has about playing god, or to use us as a social experiment or some shit, but I, for the first time in my life, have 20/20 vision because this whole world is projected by the combined powers of electronics and our brains. Seriously, just _imagine_ for a second the medical implications this brings about and the _possibilities_ this could have presented the whole of humanity had Kayaba Akihiko not been such a fuckwad!"

"Yeah…" I replied, mulling it over while I, too, filled up my plate "The NerveGear is a truly technological marvel, isn't it? But, really, that's why I'm glad that all that we're stuck in is a virtual world where we don't feel pain," _so long as you don't search for the Durability option,_ "have no biological need to defecate, and have what kind of constitutes as super powers. I mean as it is, it's tricking the shit out of our senses; everything we see, feel, smell, and hear is all projected upon us by this machine. Kayaba Akihiko himself stated back at _Starting City _that he wanted us to experience a second reality."

I looked him right in the eyes. "Just _imagine_ what else he could have accomplished with the _complete and utter control _over our neurological pathways; the very things that make us who we are. Sure, Kayaba is a fuckwad, but in a sense he is very,_ very _merciful fuckwad."

The university student was looking at me with wide eyes, "Damn it, Ray, it's around 6 in the morning; that is way too heavy and dark to be thinking about this time of the day. Man, way too dark, period. "

We moved towards a table by the left wall. I shrugged, "Trip, it's the truth, and face it; it makes you feel better about being stuck where we are, shitty as that is."

He thought about it for a second and then nodded, "Touché, it does do that. Especially the super power part makes it loads better."

I grinned as we sat down on opposite sides of the wooden table, "Yup, mainly the reason I bought the game, aside from it being the world's first VROMMRPG. So, why'd you go for the war hammer?"

"Funny story that, actually," he said with a laugh. "See, me and few campus friends - I'm not the only foreigner at Todai, you know - we all decided it'd be fun to base our characters off of the Marvel's Avengers. Bill, one of the two Americans, went for Captain America while Alex, the other American – coincidentally, also a redhead – she went as Black Widow. Erik, being the biggest out of us, is, you guessed it: The Hulk. Francois had already called dibs on Iron Man way back, and that left me and Tom."

He took a few bites from his meal and then continued, "I would have been fine with being Hawkeye, nice aesthetic and all, but seeing as there aren't any bows and arrows in this game, he kind of became obsolete. Same kind of went for Spider Man, plus his suit's colors are kind of garish, you know? In any case, we decided that the two Asgardian brothers. Thor and Loki, would be our choices – hammers and staffs available in-game. Both of us wanted to be Thor; hammers being much cooler than staves and all that jazz."

I nodded in agreement to that, staffs were all kind of bland. "Plus, Thor is actually an Avenger," I pointed out.

"Precisely, I mean as a character I adore Loki, but he's a trickster and illusionist; a magician. His staff is a magic staff and eh…no magic here. So, we let fate decide by means of a coin toss and as luck would have it, I won. There you have it, the reason behind the hammer."

I cocked my head to the side, "So, if you're based off of Thor, why are you called Trip Fantasia?"

"Ah," he said, "yeah, I kind forgot about that whole thing. See, when I made my totally awesome Thor-esque avatar - I do so miss the muscles - it wasn't the physique or even the voice I spent to longest on. No, it was the naming."

He leaned forward conspiratorially, "I had a few options already jotted down, but they were all already taken. So, did you know there are people in this world called Thor Odinson, Thor, Man of Thundah and even Mjölnir?"

I answered with a grimace, "I do, actually." He blinked, obviously surprised. "Three of those four are dead; I saw their names in the Room of Revival. Only Mjölnir is still alive."

Trip's smile fell off his face in a flash. "Oh…" For the next few moments we ate in complete silence, both of us suddenly again made aware of the fact that even though Kayaba could have done things considerably worse, those three alongside 212 others, were dead, their brains fried. Eyes probably liquefied or burnt out of their sockets with blood dripping down their noses.

I pushed those images out of mind in a hurry. With a bland smile and false cheer, I asked, "So umm… anyways, why the name Trip Fantasia?"

He seemed to perk up at me breaking the heavy and awkward silence that had fallen around us. "Right….see, I love jazz, always have. Well, there's this song, Cantaloop, by the jazz-rap band, US3, maybe you've heard of it?" I shook my head, I hadn't.

"You should listen to it sometime, it's pretty damn awesome. Anyways, one of the main lyrics is 'Flip Fantasia', but I always heard is as 'Trip Fantasia'. Erik's the one who corrected that particular misunderstanding, and it kind of became my nickname. So, seeing as all those other names were taken, I took one which my friends would recognize."

It made a lot of sense, but one thing didn't. "If you're here with your friends, why aren't you with them?"

His smile dimmed somewhat. "Alex had a paper due the next day, so she said she'd join us after she'd delivered it, and I'm glad she's not here; she…. doesn't cope with stress too well. Tom had a date, so he too would join the next day. The rest of them are in here, though. Thing is… we'd all planned to take a pizza break and share our avatar names there, meet up again in Aincrad to exclaim our awe for the avatars we'd crafted. As you know…that never went down."

Suddenly, I understood, "You have no idea what your friends are named, and looking for them amongst 10,000 people is almost an exercise in futility. I'm sorry, man. "

"It's okay. I did try to find them you know, but after two days of searching and finding nothing, I decided that staying still in Starting City wasn't going to get me or them anywhere. In here or out there, we'll meet eventually, of that I'm sure."

I smiled at his conviction, even if a small, traitorous voice in my head whispered; "_eventually also includes death." _

He grinned, "Besides, isn't this the start of a beautiful new friendship?" The little voice was silent at that proclamation.

I replied "That it is, friend."

"So, pal of mine, is Ray your actual name?"

* * *

Just like that, the two of just talked for about thirty minutes whilst eating our breakfast, with Trip doing most of the talking. (In that aspect he was a lot like Aichiro. I wondered if he was in here. The angry, raw, and vindictive part of me wanted him to be, but I was never the greatest at holding grudges and the larger part of me wished he was safe out in the real world. ) We kept the conversation light, breached no deep or dark subjects, and mostly just talked about our experiences of being long term foreigners in Japan and language.

It was thus that I found out that Trip was a polyglot; he was fluent in French, German, English, as well as Japanese and could hold a conversation in Italian, his self-proclaimed worst language. I was kind of intimidated by it, to be honest. But aside from a lack of similar specified interest in linguistics, we got along fine. Eventually, we came right back to our situation through complaining about the fact that when you slept in the barracks, you got woken up.

"By the way, do you know why the NPCs could enter our room, because as far as I'm aware, once you have that room nobody but you can open it, right?"

Trip gave me a look, "Did he give you a key or did you see a lock on the door?"

I thought back on it and now that he mentioned it, neither was the case. My silence was answer enough.

"Precisely, just like in a real barracks the notion of privacy isn't exactly a prevalent one, so the NPCs can enter at any time they want. Doesn't happen, though, because I think the only times they go there is if a new player needs accommodation, or for the morning wake up call. That's all their programming allows them." The blonde shrugged, "And yeah, staying at an inn is probably more comfortable – you can actually sleep in - but it is also more expensive. In fact, now that I know that they exist, I'm hoping they have barracks in every town."

"Why?"

He cocked his head to the side, "You don't know the upside to staying here?"

I shook my head, "Nope."

"Oh, huh, I was absolutely sure that that's why you opted out on renting a room in a family house."

"Wait… that's an option?" I was floored; did I perhaps skip over that in the Guide? Very possible, seeing as I didn't read everything with the same fervor.

"Yeah, after the bar keep tells you there's no more room, didn't a few of the patrons of The Angler try and offer it to you, before a guard mentions that the barracks are a much better option?"

Huh, so the patronage at The Angler _did_ change per night, interesting. "No, nobody but the Barkeep actually talked to me, so he was the one who told me about this being an option."

"And he didn't tell you about what the price was?"

"Not specifically, no, he just mentioned that they all but had to offer me a place to stay for a small fee and that was enough for me."

We heard the clanking of armor and the same guard that had come to wake us up – he was still wearing that stupid smile – was walking towards our table. "Well, wouldn't you know it, but that guy there - his name is Radler, I think, and he's the bastard that wakes you up – he's the one that comes and collects your fee."

I asked, "Which is what exactly?" because the Swiss had now been alluding to the fee being the reason that he was staying, so what? It was super cheap?

He grinned, "You'll find out soon enough, Ray."

"Alright Recruits," said the man I now identified as Radler, in his loud and boisterous voice, "you stayed here a night, so it's time to contribute to our community: today, I need each of you to fetch ten slabs of deer meat. Bring it in preferably before dinner time, but after is also still acceptable. Good luck." With that, he moved on.

Bling went the noise and I had a new quest, one you could not, apparently, refuse. I processed this and then a smirk, like the one Trip was already wearing, appeared on my face. "Oh, this is good. You mean that in order to stay here, all we have to do is make profit in Col and EXP? Count me in!"

"Yup, the quests vary from day to day; yesterday was 5 of those odd squirrel creatures, the ones with three eyes." Ah, so that's what they looked like up close, cool. "You know, you'd think 5 isn't a lot, but for those little shits it is, because, fuck, they are fast and nimble, and just so damn small and you have to wait for them come out of the trees, and, just, argh."

"You don't like them, do you?"

"No," he said darkly, "I hate them; it took me 2 hours to complete that particular quest and the EXP they give you is basically worthless. They bite, and also led to me to a Nepent spawning ground and almost got me offed there, but luckily I killed a few of those and could, thankfully, outrun the rest. In conclusion, those _Blood Squirrels_ are devil spawn, I swear to you! But, besides some of the creatures themselves being absolute bitches, this is one hell of sweet deal. Really, I have no idea if it's randomly generated or if there's a schedule to it, only been here one more day than you, but it sure beats having to pay for everything."

Trip stood up, "So, ready to go and complete our quest together?"

I smiled, "Hell yeah, I am, let's go!" And so we did.

We went out the east exit, as it was practically next door, and entered the forest not much later. The BGM was as tranquil as it had been yesterday and the early morning light filtering through the tree tops fitted it even better than the falling evening light had.

"So Trip," I asked the blonde, "you killed one of these deer before?"

He shook his head, blonde strands of hair following and replied: "No, I haven't. I think I've seen maybe two, at the most, and they run away the very moment they notice you. They're probably the fastest creatures in here. I also don't have any clue as to what they're called, does the quest description tell us that or not?"

I checked it, "It does. They're called _Striking Stags_, which is a fitting name, I suppose. So, I guess this means we can't hunt the females for this quest?"

Trip shrugged, "I guess so, we'll see. Perhaps the females are actually the ones with the antlers in Aincrad, who knows? In the end, they both give us EXP so I won't really discriminate, you know. "

"I wasn't planning on being moral about it either, but it would be useful to know which ones complete the quest faster."

The first things we met were a trio of _Little Nepents_. I was happy to note that an Eve was not among them, but sadly neither was a Sakura. I took the one on the right and he took the one on the left. I had no idea what level Trip was, I guessed probably already at level 6, and out of the corner of my eye, I watched as his small war hammer – it was no Mjölnir in that aspect – lit up a bloody red and smashed in the head of the plant monster, sending it flying. The one in the middle didn't like that and decided that the blonde was much more of a threat, attacking him with their characteristic cries of war, meaning that I had the luck of just facing one. I heard the shattering of glass, meaning that Trip had disposed of the first one already.

Not wanting to be outdone, I refocused on my target. With ease, and not a second too late either, I dodged one of the leaf appendages and activated a _Slant_, it fell back with a screech. It was already in the red, but sadly I couldn't kill them in one strike as of yet. I moved forward as well, almost in tandem with it, and sword still up in the air, I reactivated the Sword Skill, following the streak of light that was still in the air with precision. It shattered into pieces and I turned around, seeing the last _Nepent _still crawling towards the blonde. He saw me and nodded towards the last one, a huge grin on his face.

I understood, and with a smile of my own I activated _Horizontal_, streaking towards the monster. I cut it, and came to a stop in front of the creature. I turned around once the system let me go and watched how the college student casually activated his war strike. I saw how it squashed the ugly visage of the plant monster, silencing its chatter and not even allowing it to scream out in pain as it exploded into 0's and 1's.

"That," said Trip, "was awesome." His green eyes practically sparkled, "Let's do it again!"

And so began a fun game of finding the best pattern of killing_ Nepents_ between the two us, while trying to find ourselves some stags to kill. Just like me, he had two _Sword Skills_ at the moment, his first was the one I'd already seen and it was called _Crusher. _It was a blow that could practically come from any side as long as you held the hammer around the height of your head. The other was called _Uppercut_, and as the name implies, it launches the opponent a little bit in the air. The pre-motion for it was equally self-explanatory: it was like performing an actual uppercut, except with a hammer. They melded together so damn smooth, too, because once he'd executed an _Uppercut, _his hammer was precisely in the position for a _Crusher_. It was, as he'd put it, "a _crushing _combo. Get it?"

His skills did more damage, but they were also slower; in the same time that he killed one, I could kill two if I put my mind to it. The fact that Horizontal increased my speed exponentially made it so that I reached my target earlier than he did his.

Once we'd tried to attack one at the same, me with a _Slant_ and he with a _Crusher, _and the system had actually held back Trip – he'd been attacking it from behind - meaning that I had to take it down on my own. Apparently, monsters could only face one opponent at a time, but the first one we'd killed together was the anomaly to that theory.

"Wait…" I mumbled. "Could this mean that they can only take one hit at a time?" We tested that out and yes, that was the case; so long as we didn't attack precisely at the same time the game allowed it. And so we spent the next half hour tramping through the forest, killing the many Nepents we came across. If they were in groups, we each took a side and took one or two down as a duo. If there was one, we played rock-paper- scissors to see who'd get to do it in. I usually won those small matches, to my happy surprise.

"You know, "said Trip conversationally as he nimbly dodged two of the sharp leaves, "we should have totally gotten another quest while we were at it; I kind of forgot how many of these fuckers there are in the forest."

"That," I replied as I cut one of the leaves off, rendering one of my opponent's appendages useless, "would have probably been a lot more profitable. Hell, I could have unlocked one of those boats by now come to I think of it. Oh well, we'll do that once we find some of those Stags."

"Boats?" asked the blonde as he crushed his opponent.

"Yeah, the ones that take you to the other smaller lake settlements. I'd assumed you'd already cleared a quest for one of the fishermen by the pier."

He was silent for a moment and then said, "There's a pier?"

Polygons were falling behind me and I bet it looked really bad ass. I looked Trip right in the eyes, and asked him "You haven't explored Numalba yet, have you?"

He chuckled, "Not really, no. I mean, I went right back to sleep after Radler came up with the bell, and woke up at 12."

I stopped him before he could continue with his story, "You mean we could have gone back to bed earlier."

"Yes." I gave him a look that let him know my ire. Not that I could have gone back to sleep anyway, but it was the thought that counted.

"Anyway, "he continued, ignoring the blame I was heaping on him with my eyes, "After that I took continues quest from the people at the barracks, so I was busy with that most of the day. I was deadbeat by the time 8 PM rolled around and went to bed early. Exploring never really crossed my mind."

"Well then" I said with a grin, "you should be glad I kind of did. There are five boats by the pier and each one of them goes to a different town but in order to be able to get access to these 'ferries', you have to complete a quest for the owner of said boat."

"Oh that's cool. Ray," he threw an arm around my shoulder, "I think you and I were scripted to meet and give each other useful information."

I snorted, "Yes, and I suppose we were also scripted to fail at finding some deer."

"Why, yes, we were."

"We were?"

"Yes," he replied sagely, "to have this conversation of course."

"Ah, of course."

We walked out of the small clearing we'd fought the last four Nepents in and Trip sighed, "You're right though, it shouldn't be this hard to find some –

Both of stilled, our eyes centered on the five deer that were grazing right in the next clearing. Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

Their coats were comprised of dark brown fur which was divided in half by a thin, white line. The tail, however, was a pure black. On their long faces sat four antlers. The bone looked as sharp as my sword. Above those sharp bone protrusions hung a pure red cursor, indicating it was level five. They hadn't noticed us yet, and we shared a look. We could _not _afford to fuck this up.

We had a strategy, yes, but it heavily relied on the fact that once these creatures were aggro'd, they'd actually keep attacking and wouldn't run away like they'd done so far. It basically came down to me being the aggroer, attracting their attention and leading them into the path of a _Crusher_.

I pointed towards the creatures, then towards my cursor and raised full hand, signaling they were level five. Trip nodded in understanding and used the universal gesture for attack. I nodded my consent.

The closest one was about seven meters in front of us, slightly to the right. I started running, jumped over the bushes, because wading through them would, a) make my approach slower, and b) would announce my presence too soon. Still, they noticed the vibration, or saw me out of the corners of their eyes. Whatever the case, it was now or never.

I sprinted for two more seconds, adjusting my course and then activated_ Horizontal_. I hit that one, and immediately refocused on another before it could sprint off. I was two strides in, reached the count of three in my head, and reactivated the _Sword Skill_ and hit that one. Not far away was a third, I applied the same tactic, but this one dodged and the other two had already pranced off.

That was a bummer, but at least I'd hit two and I refocused my attention on them. Neither looked too pleased with me, but they hadn't run away, so that meant that once these _Striking Stags_ had been hit they were in for the fight.

The first one I'd hit was pawing at the ground with one hoof just like the _Frenzy Boars_ had, and I suspected that their attack pattern was going to be similar. These _Striking Stags_ were basically the leveled up version of the level one creatures I'd first faced. The bar that hung above it, indicating its HP wasn't even in the yellow yet.

It snorted and charged forward, green light trailing it. It was a lot faster, which was no surprise; still, I was able to follow it. I was ready for it, already set up for a _Slant_. Within seconds, the creature had mostly crossed the distance between us and I activated my favorite move. I watched with wide eyes as 8 sharp pointy bits of bone passed me right by whilst I cut the beast to whom they belonged. I knew right then and there that fighting these creatures at night would not be something I planned to do because they'd be even faster, and even if I could get the timing for my slant right, it wouldn't hit seeing as it would be simply that much faster than me. For now, though, I could hit it.

The second one actually just ran towards me, no skill employed. I shrugged, thinking the AI of this particular deer to be not too bright. It happened. Behind me I heard the other creature call out as Trip hit it with his _Crusher_. In this fight, he wouldn't really use his other move because it wasn't exactly geared towards creatures with four legs. It worked, sure, but it rarely launched them in the air; he'd tried to achieve that with the _Frenzy Boars_ early on.

The deer kept on getting closer and I activated my _Horizontal_, ready to meet it head on. I shot forward, but it easily dodged and ran around behind me whilst I was still stuck in the post-motion. I felt it hit me twice with its hooves, both strikes rather strong and I felt myself being pushed to the ground. Thankfully, the system had let me go and I rolled away as I watched two hooves strike down where my head would have been. So, that, I'd later come to discover was its three hit move, _Trample_.

"I'm sending him your way, Ray!" shouted Trip. I immediately turned around and saw the blonde swerve out of the way of the sharp antlers. I stepped to the left, flicked my eyes to the right to check on the one I'd been focusing on and found that it, too, was readying a charge. If I timed this right I would be able to hit both with a _Slant_, and perhaps follow up on the one Trip had sent my way with a _Horizontal_.

Tensely, I waited for the right moment to kick off, and thankfully I timed it correctly. I landed, counted to two, felt the system let me go, saw Trip sprint towards the one that was now recharging the move it had been named for, heard the thundering of hooves as the one that had hit me sped towards me, and I turned to face it. Again, I waited tensely, jumped in the air, saw a streak of red out of the corner of my eye and heard both deer exclaim their pain as our _Sword Skills_ hit them.

Grey eyes flicked up to glance at my health bar, found that the two strikes hadn't done too much damage, still respectably in the green zone. My opponent was less fortunate, its bar now chipped away to yellow, and it was still under the influence of the post-motion too. Eagerly, I activated Horizontal, shot forward and watched as the deer turned around and found itself in a terrible position where it simply couldn't dodge.

I hit it, sending it stumbling a bit. Thankfully, it was stunned enough by my blow that it didn't immediately activate its other skill. This meant that it couldn't take advantage of my post-motion stillness, and allowed me to immediately fire off a Slant.

It was almost in the red now, and three more moves would likely finish it off. It reared up in anger and pain, no longer disoriented by my _Horizontal_. I jumped to the side, avoiding the sturdy hooves and fired off two quick _Slants_, forming an X. I jumped back, activated _Horizontal_ and with a grunt, pierced the place where my two earlier strikes intersected. With a loud noise, the beast fell down and exploded into code. Not a second later, I heard a similar noise coming from Trip's side of things.

A message popped up, announcing that I had gained 70 EXP and 65 Col. I was also glad to note that a slab of meat was also part of the spoils.

"Hell yeah!" exclaimed the college student, "You also get a slab?"

I happily replied that I had. "Well, only 18 more to go!"

* * *

20 minutes later, after having killed more than a few Nepents, we found the three that had escaped earlier. Again, I could only agro a total of two, the last one running for all that it was worth. Ten minutes later, we each had a total of two slabs.

It was as we once again ran into group of four Nepents, the Swiss killing the last one - the one I'd cut not a second earlier as was our attack pattern - when a thought suddenly occurred to me.

"Hey Trip, you've been getting the spoils for each kill right?"

"Yes, you have as well, right?"

"Yeah, but, well, seeing as were doing this as a team, I feel kind of entitled to some of the credit. The same goes for you when our roles are reversed. So, why don't we actually form a party? For that matter, let's first become friends, as in that you appear on my list."

He blinked, "Why didn't we do this from the beginning?"

"Because we forgot it was an option. It really is kind of frightening how easy you forget that this is actually a game, isn't it?"

We were silent at that for a moment, because it was true; we _had_ forgotten. For a moment, this had been our reality, and not just some game we were stuck in. With a few swipes, we were friends and another bleep later, we were members of a party.

I could suddenly see his HP bar, which was at full just like mine was. As I had speculated, Trip was already at level 6. I, however, if our EXP bars were correct, wasn't that far behind. We also suddenly had a new, shared inventory.

"Well," said my first friend and newly minted party member, "let's give this thing a spin, shall we?"

The party mechanics, it turned out, were very useful; it equally divided up the Col and it calculated the EXP given based on the amount of effort you had exerted in killing the monster, a little bit extra being given to the one who delivered the killing blow.

Two hours passed, within which I gained a level after killing my third _Striking Stag_. I was awarded three points, and I distributed them as I thought best making my stats look as follows:

Str: 9

Agi: 9

Dex: 7

Per: 7

Vit: 10

We also now each had 7 slabs, meaning only a total of 6 deer were left to be slaughtered. Yes, whilst the buggers often ran off and were not as prevalent as Little Nepents, each and every one always dropped a slab of meat. A much rarer drop was a part of the antler, and we both speculated that damaging bone protrusions during the fight caused them to be dropped, but in order to be sure further testing was in order.

It was also during the last ten minutes of these two hours that I had my first run in with the _Blood Squirrels,_ and as the Swiss had said, they were very annoying creatures. It wasn't even that the damage they did was much, in fact it was entirely negligible. No, it was the fact that they seemed to bite deep and actually sucked some of the 'blood' out; it hurt like a bitch. My sword had more luck than his hammer, but even I had trouble hitting their small, red, nimble frames.

We walked away from where we'd killed ten of the foul little creatures and I scratched my arm where two had bitten me rather viciously. Both my legs had also fallen victim. "Trip," I grumbled, "you forgot to mention that they were little bloodsucking shits."

"Yeah, sorry about that, but they really are mean little fuckers right? They fall from the sky like a small army of vampiric gerbils."

At the coinage of that term, I suddenly imagined them a few levels higher and at night and I shivered, "We are so _not_ going to go out in this forest at night."

"Agreed." He'd probably had a similar horrific vision.

We were walking down something that resembled a path leading to who knew where, when we saw something I'd been expecting to cross paths with eventually; an Eve. My teammate got a huge smile on his face, raised his hands and said, "I will totally win this round, man!"

I looked at him in surprise, "You do notice that, right?"

He looked confused, "Yeah, it's a Little Nepent, duh."

"Yes," I agreed, "but can you spot anything different about it?"

"It has a fruit on its head" – his eyes widened – "Oh, so this is the Eve you were talking about?!"

"Yup."

"So, I take it were not going to engage it?"

"Not if we want to live, no."

"But isn't it safe as long as you don't puncture the fruit and were both strong and fast enough to be able to do that."

I nodded, "True, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. Sure were both good, but I just have no idea how many of its kin it'll call or even how long that call lasts. I assume it has a timer, but really I'd rather not find out at present."

The blonde shrugged, "Fine by me, left or right?"

"I'm always the devil's advocate, so left."

"Left it is in then."

We had no trouble avoiding it and it didn't follow us. 45 minutes later, we had completed our first quest of the day because we'd finally found a spawning ground of the Striking Stags. Both of us were eager to return, hungry after all that fighting; the occasional _Cub Berry_ can only carry you so far.

We turned on our maps, checked which direction we had to go – in this case, west – and kept that course up for the next hour. No longer pursuing the _Striking Stags,_ our only opponents were _Nepents_. We came across two more Eves, but with a little careful maneuvering, we avoided them and arrived back in Numalba unharmed.

We handed Radler the 20 slabs and got a reliable amount of EXP, after which he informed us that lunch was available at the Barracks. We all but ran to the mess hall, and ate our fill. For a time we split up, Trip exploring the town whilst I ordered up my inventory, most of the stuff being from my journey towards Numalba.

I had plenty of wolf skin and meat, both would sell for a rather nice price. Two of the _Wind Wasps_ had dropped their stingers, which, when in large quantities, could apparently upgrade a rapier or fleuret so they were kind of really useless to me. The most useful by far were the Bumbling Beetle Exoskeleton pieces I had, because when given to a blacksmith, they could be made into a shield. I liked the idea of a shield very much indeed, protection and living longer and all that.

As it turned out you needed ten pieces, and not five like I possessed, but I was half way there which was a lot better than not having had them at all. I sold most of the rest, but the only tailor in town had a very nice deal on a wolf skin hat – basically, you were wearing a wolf's head, like that first Legion dude in Prim in Fallout New Vegas. I needed three more pieces and I'd have that. There was a better one, like the one the Guards here wore that oddly enough needed less skins, but I couldn't resist the awesome the other one gave you.

Done with that, I messaged Trip, and we reconvened at the pier. We both ate a pair of the delicious Shioyaki, Trip was interested in the fishing skill and the rods, and we added all five of the Ferry quests, as we'd dubbed them. The quest givers weren't that hard to spot, golden exclamation points hanging above their heads instead of yellow cursors.

The first boat, the one that went to a little town on the eastern shore called Orare, was owned by a blonde fisherman who needed us to kill 10 Nepents, which wouldn't be much of a problem at all. The second boat, owned by a grumpy old man, went to Larth, a town a little ways up from Orare. He wanted us to bring him 15 Antlers, which wasn't an as easy task.

The third boat, which would ferry to Linston, the first town on the western shore of the lake, was owned by a young man in his twenties with striking yellow eyes, called Maron. His quest involved killing some _Bumbling Beetles,_ as apparently the exoskeleton could also be used as a roof, which his house desperately needed. 20 did seem a little excessive, though, unless he had no roof at all. In any case both of us found that rather convenient, wanting to get ourselves our hands on a shield so we gladly accepted that quest.

The fourth boat, the smallest by far, ferried to Janlyn, the second town on the western shore. It was owned by Sharon, a woman who needed 10 bear skins, which neither of us had come across yet and were kind of reluctant to. The fifth boat, and by far the largest, went to Aldam, the town situated directly across from Numalba. It was owned by a large man, a lumberjack through and through, and he needed us to get him a _Nepent Fruit._ We'd both grimaced at that, all too aware of what _that_ entailed.

The decision on what to do first was quite obvious: we'd go for the _Bumbling Beetles,_ seeing as we'd definitely meet ten Nepents on the way back to the fields; two quests in one go. It took us an hour to reach the plains again, and as expected, we'd already completed our first Ferry Quest. For the next hour we fought bugs – Trip coming to the discovery that I did not react well to _Wind Wasps _– and eventually we had the required amount of exoskeleton pieces for two shields, as well as Manon's quest.

By the time we reached Numalba again, it was already 5 PM. We got some nice EXP for handing in the two quests, and then went to the Armory to get our shields. It took the guy 30 minutes, but by the end of it, we each had ourselves a small, dark blue shield. They were by no means great or indestructible, but they were a notch better than the small battered wooden ones the man himself sold.

Our next course of action was to try and complete, or at the very least make headway on, the quest to unlock the ferry to Larth. So, now knowing where the _Striking Stags_ spawned – or at least the general direction - we headed out east as we had that morning. Half an hour in, only having battled Nepents, we finally found the path that we'd followed earlier that day. Gladly, we followed it, aggroing the odd pair of _Striking Stags_ (a few always getting away) if we found them.

So far, we only had two pieces of Antler from our earlier hunt and it was looking to be a long haul to 15. Eventually, after another hour we found the spawning ground – or another one, we weren't entirely sure – and we did what we did best: we cut them up. Or I did; Trip crushed their skulls.

At 8:10 we called a halt to it, happy to at least have a quarter of the required amount. Hitting the Antlers had no direct effect on it – not to our eyes at least, but we kept at it because of stubborn will that it _did_. We were on our way back, not too keen on finding out what the moon did to the creatures in here – especially the _Blood Squirrels _\- trying to throw _Cub Berries_ into each other's mouths from various distances, when we heard a human voice. Not just any voice either, a female voice. Both curious, we sought it out.

In a clearing that was obviously a small Nepent spawning ground we saw a black haired girl go at them with an axe. Not a single movement was wasted, and no Nepent that spawned lived for long.

"I know her," whispered Trip.

"You do?" I asked, curious. "

"Yeah, she's the girl who got the last room at The Angler."

"Wait," I whispered back, "You mean that The Angler not having a room isn't a scripted event?"

"Nope, we just had bad luck with her taking up the last room that was available after an apparently random influx of foreign NPC."

"So, did you speak to her?"

The blonde shook his head, "No, wanted to because she's a real cutie, but she was having none of it. Kind of stuck up, if you ask me."

"She has right to be though," I said as I watched her weave her way through the sharp leaves the creatures employed, "she's kicking ass."

"Yeah, well, I'd love to join her, but we'd probably only get in her way. Besides, Nepents don't drop anything unless they're either Sakuras or Eves." This was true, and rather saddening as killing them didn't really do us any perks anymore.

"You're right about that. Plus, dinner." We were about to walk away when we watched her turn around, so in her zone and attuned to the sound of death and rebirth of these creatures that she did it on autopilot. In slow motion, we watched as her axe lit up a bright yellow, and hit the newly formed creature right where she shouldn't have.

Three pairs of eyes widened as her axe hit a newly formed fruit. The air was filled with a sickly sweet smell and a high pitched screech, unlike anything we'd heard yet resounded in the air. For a second everything was silent, and not one of us _dared_ breathe or move a muscle. Then guttural chattering came from all around us, loud and all consuming. A hundred voices, at least, and even though it was guttural and we didn't understand it, the message was clear as the night sky above us: death.

Oh, it was dinner time alright, and we were the main course.

* * *

**AN: **As I mentioned on my profile, depression sucked out a lot of me - including my inspiration for most of these stories - so that's why I went MIA for a while. I'm getting better now, though, and the ~11K words you just read is proof that I got my inspiration back, in part thanks to you guy's reviews so thanks a bunch, everyone!. Also, a big shout out to ravenreux, who's agreed to be my Beta and did a spectacular job with it. Yeah, she's awesome, so do check out her stuff. Do also check out the Tumblr I set up for this, you can find it on my profile, it'll have some fun stuff.

Thanks again, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Review if you feel like it.

Cheers,

Ray the Red


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